


Keep Yourself Hidden Away

by sax_g0dess



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, no idea how good thisll be but just gonna go for it, so imagine wanda maximoff for yaz in this story, super power yaz, yaz/doctor relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:27:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sax_g0dess/pseuds/sax_g0dess
Summary: Yaz had always been different. Different in a way she had to keep hidden out of fear of losing her family and the life she has always known. Until, that is, the Doctor came crashing into her life, allowing her to be who she was meant to be all along.****PLEASE READ****Alright guys, I'll be honest, I'm not keeping up with this story so I've decided that I am going to leave it as it is, and I will add the rest of the chapters all at once when I have the rest of them written. Not sure how long that will take, but I hope you will read it when it's actually fully completely and I have added the story in it's entirety.Thanks, guys!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyy guys, this is going to be my Doctor Who/Thasmin fanfic. I love the ship and I love the thought of a Yaz with actual character development and also is close to The Doctor's level of power.  
> So, for Yaz's powers, I'm pretty much giving her Wanda Maximoff's from the Marvelverse. You know, the telekenesis, mind reading, among others.  
> The first chapter will be pretty short as its just setting up for everything else but the other chapters will be considerably longer.  
> Please Review and I hope you enjoy!

Life for Yasmin Khan has always been difficult, but it hit it’s peak the day she turned 13. The beginning of her teenage years and the beginning of a life spent lying and hiding her true self.

It all started that morning when she woke up feeling confused. Like something wasn’t right. Slowly she sat up, looking around her bedroom as though that might give her a reason for her confusion. As she looked around she saw nothing that would explain what she was feeling at that moment, until she turned her head to the left and saw the empty cup she always keeps next to her bed _floating_ , surrounded by a haze of purple mist. 

_What!?_

She screamed, the cup dropping back down to the table and the purple retracting and disappearing, leaving Yaz wondering if that had actually happened or if she was just going crazy. Apparently she screamed louder than she thought as both her parents came running into her room, her little sister not far behind standing in the doorway.

“What, what happened?!” Came the frantic voice of her mother, Najia.

Still breathing hard but slightly calmer, Yaz made a decision. One that would mark the first lie of many in her lifetime.

“Nothing, I’m just so excited! It’s my birthday!” She said with so much conviction they had to believe her. She guesses she’s a natural at this lying thing. She’ll need that from now on, she supposes.

Her family looked at her like she was crazy but they believed her, telling her to get up and celebrate.

The rest of that day was spent celebrating her birthday with her family. She really did have a lot of fun, there being moments where she almost forgot about what had happened that morning. Almost. It was still there, of course, in the back of her mind waiting for her to allow it to return to the forefront of her mind, which didn’t happen until that night.

She was laying in her bed wide awake, thinking about what could possibly be going on with her. She’s still not entirely sure it was real. She guesses there’s only one way to test it, looking at the same cup that floated above her table that morning.

Taking a deep breath, she sat up, turning slowly to face the cup. There was no way, she thought. No way this could be real. Breathing deeply once more, her eyes closed, allowing her to concentrate on the cup. The second she began concentrating on the cup, visualizing it floating above the ground, she felt it. The power flowing through her veins and, all at once, she knew this was real.

            Yasmin’s eyes opened to see, with little surprise on her part, the cup floating slightly above the table, just like it was that morning, along with the mist she is beginning to associate with her powers. She gently sets the cup back on the table before turning to look at herself in the mirror and gasping. 

 

There was purple fading from her eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

In the years after that day, Yaz spent a lot of time on her own, thinking that if she doesn’t have friends, she’ll have nobody to lie to about not being about to hang out or why she prefers her own company to that of others. Most of her time in those first few years were spent training. She’d go into the woods and push herself to gain as much control as she possibly could.

During those training sessions she realized that moving things wasn’t the only thing she was able to do. After a year or so she realized she was able to read minds when she could hear her mother speaking even though her mouth wasn’t moving. It gave her a right scare when she heard her mother cussing like a sailor about some woman on the street and, after turning  to say something, realizing her mother's mouth wasn't actually moving at all.

So, she added that to her training regimen, to see whether or not she could block out other people’s thoughts and to an extent, their feelings too. Yaz was able to figure out that she was able to switch that ability on and off the longer the practiced at it. Another two years after that, when she was 16, she figured out that she could slow down time, thus giving her what she assumed others would see as super speed.

On one of her training days, she was messing around in the trees, climbing and seeing how high she could get, when all the sudden she heard a  _crack!_ The branch she had been standing on broke from under her, sending her plummeting to the ground. Yaz, eyes squeezed shut, with her hands held out in front of her, braced for the impact she thought was sure to come, was quite surprised that after a few seconds, she hadn't hit anything. Her eyes opened slowly, and she was surprised to see that she was floating just inches above the ground, wrapped in her own purple mist. 

She lowered herself carefully and sat up in awe, looking down at her hands in wonder. She could protect herself, she realized.  _Hmm,_ she thought.  _I wonder if..._  

Purple flowed out of her hands, slowly wrapping around her body. As soon as the mist was wrapped fully around her arm, out of nowhere she slammed her arm hard against the tree at her back.

Yaz laughed in wonder and excitement when she didn't feel a thing, knowing the hit was hard enough to have hurt her quite severely. And really, that was the first time in her life she had felt truly powerful. As if she could face the world with no problem.  

 She never told anybody about her powers, of course, out of fear of being taken away and experimented on, because that's what happens to all the comic book characters with powers. So, she lived a lonely existence. Not that that was a bother to her. She actually found it quite comforting, the constant feeling of her powers within her, like a security blanket. 

By the time Yaz had turned 19 she finished her high schooling and went to the academy to become a police officer, wanting to help people and make a difference. She had mastered what she believed to be her last two abilities, which included a defensive ability allowing her to send blasts of energy from her hands, and her last ability, which allowed her to basically create a shield around her and anybody else she wanted.

Originally, her powers manifested as a purple mist. After a few years of learning her powers and training for control, she began trying to make it so her powers were a bit more subtle to use. It took quite a bit of focus, but after a while she was able to change her powers from a purple mist to a nearly completely transparent fog. It was invisible to everyone, including herself. The only way she could tell it was there was from the feeling of her powers, as if they were an extension of her own body. Which, they are, in a way. After that, if she felt she was going to need it, she would let her powers flow out of her unseen, to wrap around her in a blanket of protection, just in case anything were to happen. 

It was rare that anything would happen, but every once in a while she would be shoved around on the job, or hit by her sister, and she wouldn't be bothered, since there was no pain to feel. That protection became something of a second skin to her, where it was almost mindless to pull it around her at times.

She rarely ever used her powers in public, and only for small things that left her with enough focus to keep her powers that clear fog.  

Her life as a police officer gave her little reprieve for her need to do good in the world and help people when all she was called in for were parking disputes.

She wants to do more.


	2. The Woman Who Fell To Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Woman Who Fell To Earth
> 
> Almost 10,000 words here I believe. Enjoy!

According to Yaz, there was nothing more unsatisfying than doing nothing more than settling parking disputes and talking two adult women down from screaming at each other in the middle of the street over cracked windows and scratched doors.

So, sitting in her police cruiser after that completely unfulfilling task, she called her superior and told him exactly what she thought about what she was doing.

“I’m just saying, I’m capable of more than settling parking disputes! I want more! I’m capable of more than you could understand.” That last part said under her breath.

“And I’ve been telling you, not to run before you can walk. You’re a second year probationary, Yaz. Bottom of the food chain.” Comes the voice of her ridiculously smug superior.

She rolled her eyes. Hard enough that her commanding officer could probably feel it through the phone, along with the groan she released after hearing him speak. All Yaz had been hearing nonstop for the past two years, was that she wasn't ready for anything more than parking disputes and simple, mindless work. She was tired of it. So completely tired of it. She didn't go to the academy just to break up meaningless conflicts between two seemingly grown-up adults. She went so she would be able to make a difference.  

Running a hand through her dark hair she spoke exasperatedly. “Come on! Give me something else. Something worth my time!” She heard him sigh deeply on the other end.

“Alright, fine. You want more? A call just came in about a mysterious object appearing in the woods. It’s yours.”

 _Probably some kids prank calling_ , she thinks, groaning again.

“Oh gee, thanks.” She says with no small amount of sarcasm.

“Welcome, Yaz. Good luck!” Says his smug voice before hanging up the phone.

Yaz lets out a heavy sigh, “Great, just great,” before setting off for the woods.

She gets to the location of the call just before nightfall, not really knowing what to expect. She walks through the last trees to see a dark-skinned young man, probably about her age, waiting with his arms crossed. Her head tilts slightly in curiosity. She gets the vague feeling that she knows him from somewhere, but she's not quite able to put the pieces together. She decides to put the thought towards the back of her mind. After all, she was here on a call. Yaz walked to stand to the right of the boy, both of them facing what Yaz assumes to be the reason for the call.  

Yaz honestly had no idea how to begin describing what she was seeing on the forest floor in front of her and she stood there, notepad in her right hand, pen in her left. It was almost like an extremely large, extremely colorful Hershey's kiss. She blinked rapidly, confirming that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her before speaking to the boy standing next to her, arms still crossed, who was looking at her like he was expecting her to do something.

“So, you say you found it here?”

“No, I said it just appeared. Out of nowhere. I came down to get me bike!”

"And where's your bike?"

"Up in that tree." Yaz looks up to said tree and, sure enough, there was a shiny red bike stuck in the branches

A sigh. Okay...

“Name, sir.” She said, walking forward with her pen pressed to the paper, poised to write.

He was looking at her like she was the one that just called in a mysterious object that “appeared out of nowhere” before sighing and stating his name. "Ryan Sinclair."

This caught her attention, causing her to study him more closely. She remembers where she recognizes him from. 

“Wait. Redland’s Primary?”

His look of exasperation changes to one of confusion. “Yeah.” He said.

“No way! Yasmin Khan,” she says gesturing to herself. Recognition washes over Ryan’s face, “Woah! Yaz? Look at you! You’re a Fed!”

She giggles slightly. “Yeah. Although we don’t call it that. I’m still training. Second year probation.” She says with slight disgust. “What about you, what have you been up to?"

At the question his shoulder’s fell slightly, “Warehouse worker,”

She feels a little sorry for him but doesn’t show it, “Oh! You like it?” She asks, already knowing the answer based on his reaction to her earlier question.

“Hate it,” Ryan says causing them both to grimace, “It’s cash while I study for my MVQ. Trying to be a mechanic.” he finishes by way of explanation.

“That’s good,” Says Yaz, effectively ending this line of conversation before continuing on to the real reason she was called out here, becoming serious once more.

“You have to take this away though, seriously. It’s going to be dark in a minute. You can’t dump this here.” 

He becomes more serious as well, remembering why they were out there in the first place. “I didn’t, I can’t even lift it!”

“Come on, Ryan. It’s me!”

He looked away in frustration, in a way that  _almost_ made Yaz believe that he really wasn't the one who put it there. “Touch it”

“What?” She asks, surprised. 

He didn’t respond to that, simply gesturing towards the object for her to touch it, thinking it will change her mind.

 _Suppose there’s nothing to lose_ , Yaz thinks as she slowly reaches her hand out to touch the thing. The minute her hand comes into contact with it she immediately yanks it back close to her body, looking at it in wonder. It was freezing. So cold it was almost hot. Her and Ryan shared a look, but before either of them could speak, Ryan's phone rang, cutting them off as he pulls it out of his pocked and answers it.  

“Hiya, Nan.” He says to whom Yaz can only assume is his grandmother. She can’t hear the other side of the conversation and it appears that Ryan doesn’t have much time to answer between his nan’s quick speaking. The call ends quickly, seemingly to lose connection.

Ryan looks at her, clearly nervous. "I need to go. Something was happening on the train my Nan is on." 

Seeing his fear, she nods quickly in agreement. "I can drive you." She offers, and he turns to her with a grateful look on his face, nodding at her suggestion. As soon as he does so, they both turn and hurry back to her police cruiser, with Yaz following Ryan's directions to where his Nan's train was.

The ride is tense and quiet, with only their fear filling the silence. 

It's dark when they get there but they can see the train is stopped on the tracks, and everybody is off and lining the grass next to it.  _Something's wrong_ , Yaz thinks, looking around at all the obviously confused people. As she does so, she can feel her powers crawling out of her, slowly, and completely transparent. Something feels dangerous to her, and her powers could tell.

"She's not out here," Ryan says, panicking slightly. "She must still be on the train."

As they step closer to the train they grab the nearest door handle and attempt to turn it, to no avail. It was locked. They continued to try different doors only to find that they were all locked. 

Now, Yaz has excellent instincts. Her powers have caused her to become incredibly in tune with the world around her and, to her instincts, it seemed weird that Ryan's nan would still be inside the locked train, while all the other passengers were seemingly able to get out with no problem, but she shook her head, deciding to come back to that later. They needed to find a way in. 

They make their way to the front of the train, hoping they will find at least one unlocked door. No such luck. They come upon the front car, Yaz's instincts still telling her something was wrong, but feeling comforted from the blanket of her powers. They see the window is broken, and upon looking in, Yaz’s heart drops. The train driver is dead and slumped forward in her seat. Yaz was trained to be prepare for this, but she knows nothing can truly prepare you for seeing someone die. 

Even so, she pushes through, looking back at Ryan and seeing his eyes squeezed shut, not wanting to look at the body in front of them. Yaz places one hand on the boy's shoulder, purposely keeping her face calm. 

"Ryan." She waits for him to look at her. Their eyes meet and she sees a look of fear in his eyes. She nods reassuringly, waiting for him to nod back. He calms down slightly, seeing Yaz's calm gaze. His heart slows slightly, and he nods back. 

"I'm okay." 

She searches his eyes, looking for any sign of a lie. Seeing none, she pushes him towards the window. "This is the only way in." She tells him apologetically. 

He sighs, closing his eyes once more to prepare himself, before opening them and forcing himself to climb through the broken window. Yaz following him shortly after. 

 

As they head towards the back of the train the lights begins flickering until they turn off completely, replaced with multiple bright flashes in quick succession. Ryan and Yaz share a look before speeding their steps up while still remaining cautious. When they reach the back of the cab the first thing Yaz’s eyes go to is what everybody else’s eyes are on. The creature in the corner of the cab, hovering over a man who is cowering in the corner of his seat, along with a woman standing tall in front of him.   

“Gran!” Yells Ryan from next to her

“Ryan! Stay there!” Comes the reply from the woman who appears to be Ryan’s nan.

“Oh, my God.” Yaz says, seeing what had been causing the flashes of light they say as they were walking back, and seemingly what her instincts were warning her about. It’s like a bundle of electrical wires. Electricity flowing through them, striking the walls of the cab.

You see, this would be the perfect time for Yaz to break out those powers she spent the entirety of her teenage years mastering, but as always, the fear of what would happen wins out, causing her to stay back within the comfort of her own protective blanket.

Suddenly, everyone in front of her doubles over in pain, while she feels something bounce off of her, near her collarbone. The next thing she knows the creature retreats through the hole that appears to be in the roof of the train car and everything is silent as she looks around in confusion at the obvious pain everyone was in.

As everyone is still recovering, rubbing at the area just above their collarbones, Yaz looks down and sees what she assumed had bounced off of her. She quickly bent down and picked it up, placing it in her pocket. Her instincts tell her she might need it later. 

She looks up again and scans the room in front of her.

There’s Ryan, still standing next to her, looking towards the woman Yaz knows to be his grandmother, who is standing next to an older white man. There’s the guy in the corner the electrical creature was hovering over. And then there was the woman. She was quite beautiful. Blonde hair and wearing a suit and waistcoat that appeared to be much to big for her.

After a few more seconds of silence she jumps into action, turning to the three people in the back,

“You three, stay put. I’ll check the rest of the train,” before turning to Yaz and Ryan, “Fat lot of help you two were,” she says as she walks between them towards the rest of the train.

Yaz finds that slightly offensive, especially considering she had just gotten there,

“Hey! Excuse me, madam,” she says turning around and following the strange woman.

The woman stops abruptly and turns around with an incredibly confused expression on her face, “Why are you calling me madam?”

What... Is this woman on something?

“Uh.. Because you’re a woman.” Yaz stutters, caught off guard.

“Am I? Does it suit me?”

“What?” This woman has to be crazy, thinks Yaz.

Realization crosses the woman’s face, and she runs her hand down it. “Oh yeah! I remember. Sorry, half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scottsman.” She says before abruptly turning around and continuing with her task.

After trying and failing to get the woman’s name, which apparently she’s “forgotten”, Yaz turns to the man who was cowering away from the creature and gets his information, trying to retain some sense of normalcy in this crazy night.

She could hear the rest of the group talking down the train car, picking up small bits as she works to get the man's information. 

..."Why not? I'm alien and I'm here." Both Yaz and the man she was interviewing turned to look at the woman who had spoken. She looked between Graham and the man, who Yaz found out is named Carl. "Don't be scared. This is new and new can be scary. We all want answers." She starts, looking Graham in the eye. "Stick with me, and you might get some." 

After getting his information, Carl left, wanting to get back to his simple life, which she couldn't blame him for. But, before he left, he turned and spoke one last time. "I'm with him." He starts, pointing towards Graham. "We don't get aliens in Sheffield." He finishes, before turning and walking out. 

Yaz watched him leave before turning back to the conversation at hand. 

“You came crashing through that roof,” says Ryan’s nan. Grace, is her name. And the man standing next to her is Graham, according to Ryan.

Yaz looks towards the hole in the roof and back towards everybody else in disbelief. She looks towards the woman. There’s something different about her. Something alien she can’t quite put her finger on. While the blonde is rambling on about her TARDIS exploding and dematerializing, Yaz concentrates on her head and pushes, to try and get a glimpse of what was going through her head.

She tries not to use this power because it overwhelms her and gives her headaches but she figures it’s necessary now. She pushes through the first layer of the woman’s consciousness, seeing only the thoughts obviously going through her head. Yaz senses something more though and pushes a little deeper. As she does, the woman abruptly stops talking and looks straight at Yaz. Probably with the same face Yaz currently has on her face.

Confusion. Awe. Wonder.

From that first look Yaz knew that the woman knew she was different. The woman's gaze moved from her face, trailing down her arms, eyes widening in surprise. Yaz realized in surprise that she could also see the layer of fog covering her body. The woman opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Yaz shook her head microscopically, just enough to be seen by the interesting woman, and pushes a little harder into her head. Another side of her mind reading was that she can speak to the other person telepathically.

 “ _Don’t say anything,”_ says Yaz, knowing the woman would hear it.

Her eyes widened even more, before she nodded at Yaz, breaking the eye contact and turning back to the rest of the group.

“What just happened?” Comes Grace’s voice as she looks suspiciously between the woman and Yaz.

The woman’s voice took on the bright tone she’d used since the moment she crashed through the ceiling and diffused the worry, “Ah, nothing, just got distracted by my own thoughts. Happens a lot, that.”

They seem to take her word for it, because that's the end of that, and Yaz sighs in relief. 

She speaks again, moving on from the subject. "Has anyone else seen anything out of the ordinary tonight?" 

Yaz and Ryan share a look, both of their thoughts going back to the object the found in the woods earlier that night. 

Ryan slowly raises his hand.

 They all pile into Yaz’s car, quickly driving towards the woods, where this whole thing had started. As Yaz drives them back, the blonde talks. 

"So you three know each other?" She asks, looking towards the three in the back seat. 

"I'm his nan." Grace says, gesturing towards the boy on his right. "And Graham's me husband." She finishes, gesturing to the man on her left. 

"Second husband," Ryan says, under his breath.  _Interesting,_ thinks Yaz, hearing the words spoken. The woman moves on, though. 

"And you two know each other?" She asks, gesturing between Ryan and Yaz. 

"Yeah. Yaz and I were at school together." Ryan says for both of them. 

Grace leans forward, getting a better look at the girl driving the car. "Not Yasmin Khan?" She asks in surprise. 

"Hi, Ryan's nan!" Yaz says with a big grin, dimple showing. She had always loved Ryan's nan when they were younger. She was a comfortable authority to Yaz. 

The smile slipped off her face as the blonde spoke up again, about what they were really all there for. She turned back to Ryan. "And you say you just found it there, this thing?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I took pictures." He says, reaching into his pocket and handing off his phone with the picture pulled up. 

"Good lad." The woman says, taking the phone and looking at the picture on the screen. "This is exciting. No... I don't mean exciting, what do I mean?" She rambles, before settling on a word.

"Worrying." 

Just as she finishes speaking, they roll up on the outskirts of the woods, all of them getting out and walking towards the trees, with Ryan and Yaz leading them. 

The walk is quiet until they make it to the area they found the object in... Only to see the place they had left it empty, with no object in sight. 

"There's me bike, so it should be right here." Their gazes all shift to the bike in the tree. 

"Why's it in a tree?" 

"We were up top and I dropped it over," He says, sheepishly.

"He get's cross because he can't ride it." Graham says by way of explanation. 

"He's got dyspraxia. It's a coordination disorder." Grace cuts in. 

Ryan interrupts before he can be embarrassed any more than he already was. "Alright, enough about me! The object's not here." 

"It was definitely there." Yaz says, confused. 

The woman walks into the opening, kneeling down by where the imprint from the object was still present. "So where's it gone?" 

The group hurries back to Yaz's police cruiser to head back to the city and do research to try and find out about any other odd happenings in the city that night. The ride is silent, none of them wanting to break the tense atmosphere that had formed within the car.  

They pull up on the side of the road by Grace’s house and everybody except for Yaz gets out. The woman leans over and puts herself next to Yaz’s window, leaning closer to her.

“Two weird things, one city, same night. Makes me nervous,”

“I’ll see if there have been any more reports on the object.”

“Good. Because we need all the information we can get. Meet us back here,” she starts to pull away before leaning back in quickly and saying in a whisper, bringing up what had happened between them on the train, “And we need to have a conversation later, yeah?”

Yaz sighs, having known this was coming, “Yeah,” before pulling away from the curb and heading towards her precinct. It’s been a very strange night.

 

* * *

 

 

Of course, once she talks to her superior about whether or not anything weird has been called into the precinct, she’s immediately brushed off, so she just heads home to change before going over to Ryan’s nan’s house where she knows the strange woman who literally crashed into her life would be.

When Yaz gets to Grace’s house the first thing she sees is the mysterious woman laying on the couch sleeping, as apparently she had passed out just as the left, leaving her with irrational worry, as she doesn't even know this woman. But this wasn’t even the weirdest part, she was literally glowing. Almost was Yaz’s own powers looked like but more misty and gold. This woman is definitely not human.

She was watching the movement of the mist when the woman abruptly sat up, breathing hard, and looked at the four of them standing there next to her. She had a sort of frantic energy about her,

“Who woke me up? I’m not ready. Still healing. Still-ugh” She breaks off with a groan before moving up to sit on the top of the couch, “Do you smell that? No, not smell. Not hear. Feel,” frantically jumping off the couch and moving Ryan’s shirt aside, looking at something on his shoulder, “Show me your collar bones,”

Although confused, they are shocked at the request enough to do as she asked, all except Yaz pulling their shirts to the side and looking at each other, realizing there was something there.

The woman's gaze moves between each of them, stopping almost undetected on Yaz, seeing she didn't have whatever the others had. She shakes her head once again, letting her know not to say anything. The blonde nods again and moves on.

“Ah, you’ve all got them,” says the woman.

“So have you,” Ryan says pointing at her, making her look down as well,

“Yeah… I have. Okay. Really sorry, not good news,” she begins with a look of guilt on her face at having to be the ones to break the new to them, “DNA bombs. Micro implants which code to your DNA,

“On detonation they disrupt the foundation of your genetic code, melting your DNA. Fast and nasty and outlawed in every civilized galaxy,” she finishes, pressing on Ryan’s collar bone,

“How did we get them?” Ryan’s voice says multiple pitches higher than it should be,

“Never mind that, are they going to go off?” That was Graham.

“Quiet, I’m trying to think. It’s difficult. I’m.. I’m not yet who I am. My brain and body still rebooting. Reformatting.” The woman spots Ryan’s phone across the room on the kitchen table and starts walking towards it in excitement as she says, “Reformatting! Can I use that?”

“Yeah I guess so but what for?”

She didn’t answer as she tapped away at Ryan’s phone for a minute before holding it up with a smile, “Ha! I reformatted your phone!”

“No, all my stuff’s on there!” Comes Ryan’s voice.

“Not anymore!”

Then, out of nowhere she places the phone to her collarbone, right where the DNA bomb is and shocks herself, blasting herself back into the cupboard behind her.

“Ow! That nap did me a world of good! What are you waiting for, let’s go!” She says as she grabs her coat and runs out the door with all of us looking after her, Yaz the first one to speak.

“She’s acting like she’s the one that’s going to be driving.”

 

* * *

 

 

The drive was fairly short and silent, with only the sound of the woman's voice giving Grace directions filling the air. After a few moments they finally come up along a warehouse, presumably where Ryan's reformatted phone led them. The brakes squeal as they come to a stop, each of them getting out of their respective car doors. 

The woman looks at the phone again, flanked by the other four on her left and right. 

"We're close." 

Just as she finishes speaking, an explosion sounds through the air. They look up and see that the explosion came from the warehouse in front of them, flames jumping out and heating the group even from where they stood quite a ways away, causing them all to flinch backwards with different exclamations of surprise. 

Before the flames had even died down, a creature walked out through the hole that had just been created in the wall, who then turned and looked at the five of them, knowing he had been watched. 

"Bingo!" The woman says, an inappropriate exclamation, Yaz thinks, before she continues. "Oi!" 

The creature just stares at them with an unsettling gaze that they can all feel, despite the fact it seems to be wearing a mask. 

The woman's head tilts. "I was expecting a tentacl-y thing." She says, once again inappropriately, before yelling out again. "Don't you move!" 

She was promptly ignored by the creature, who then turned and ran the other way, which, obviously, meant that the blonde woman had to run after them. 

As they stand crowded around the body of the man, the woman speaks, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry you had to see this." 

"I'll get something to cover the body." Says Grace, leaving to do exactly that. 

When she walks away, the blonde kneels down next to the man, obviously seeing something on his body. Her eyes narrow. "He has a tooth missing. What kind of monster kills his victims, and stops to take a tooth?" 

The rest of them stayed silent, as it didn't feel right to be talking about that while standing over the body of a dead man. Yaz was trained for this, and apparently Grace was a nurse, but Ryan and Graham had seen more death that night than they should have. 

Yaz sees Ryan looking around the room, who turns towards the area in the middle, seeing an object cracked open to a shell. Yaz sees is too, recognizing it instantly and turning to Ryan. 

"This is it!" He says. "This is the thing." 

The woman stands from where she was kneeling and walks over to where they are standing near the object. 

"It looks like it's been broken." Says Yaz, confused. 

"Or it's done what it came here for." The blonde points out, walking around it and analyzing it. "Some sort of transport chamber. Presumably for that thing we saw in the alley." 

"But, why here? Why tonight?" She finishes, obviously trying to put the pieces together, before Ryan speaks up sheepishly.

"That might have been me, actually."

They all looked at him wearily, before the woman speaks again. "Why? What did you do?" 

"When I went to get me bike, there were this line in the air. And then it moved and there were shapes..." He starts, hesitating at the reactions around him. 

"...And?" The woman encourages, slightly impatient.

"...And I touched one." Ryan finishes, looking around the group guiltily. 

"Ryan!" Grace scolds him, immediately sending him on the defensive. 

"You all would've done the same!" He says.

"I wouldn't!" Exclaims Graham, incredulous.

"...I would've." The woman cuts in unapologetically, and Yaz believes her, thinking that the woman is exactly the type of person to go around touching buttons that appear in the air in front of them. 

"Alright, the shapes disappeared!" Ryan cuts in again, wanting to explain himself. "And then a few seconds later, that appeared." He finishes, pointing towards the cracked object. 

"What have I done?" He asks. Yaz lays a hand on his shoulder, having felt his panic increasing. They all look towards the woman, expecting her to have an answer. 

"It's hard to say, really." 

"I suppose you'll be blaming this on the dyspraxia as well?!" Graham exclaims, voice full of anger, although Yaz can tell the anger is mostly as a result of the fear the man is feeling at being so out of his comfort zone. 

"Graham!" Grace chides him.

"Alright, I made a mistake!" Ryan says, knowing there's really no way to defend himself. Yaz feels a little bad for him, he was just curious. She can't blame him for that. 

"But why did that guy move it from the peaks to here? And how did he even know it were there?" He asks, trying to get the attention off of him for the moment. He already feels guilty, he doesn't need to be berated any more. 

"Good questions." The woman says, obviously thinking hard and not coming up with any concrete answers. 

Yaz decides to take things into her own hands, gesturing for Ryan to follow her and get him away from the attention that he had brought upon himself unintentionally. "Come on. Let's take a look around." He looks at her gratefully, before turning and walking after her, going deeper into the warehouse to look for anything that could explain what the object was or why it was there in the first place.

As they look around they look for anything that could explain what it is, instead finding a computer with a single video in the middle of the desktop labeled ‘IF I DIE CLICK HERE’.

The video being of the man whose body they found earlier in the warehouse saying that whatever creature had taken his sister was back. And he was going to figure out where she was.

Ryan and Yaz run back out to where the others are and see them gathered around the blonde woman. As they get closer, they see that she is holding something in front of her, facing the pod and scanning it with the tech in her hand. It looked like a wand, if Yaz had to describe it. A wand with a button on the side and a tip that glowed orange whenever the woman pressed it. She alternated between scanning the pod and reading the instrument, although it didn't look like there was anything to read. Seeing their curious looks, she spoke. 

“A sonic screw driver. Although, it is a bit more multipurpose than that. Diagnostics, scanner. Tin opener! Think of it as a sonic Swiss army knife. Without the knife. Only idiots carry knives.

Yaz rolled her eyes before focusing on the conversation again.

“Two alien species, one city. My best guess is two species at war using Earth as a battle ground.”

As she continues scanning the object with her sonic, Graham’s cell phone begins ringing. He takes it out of his pocket and presses the answer button, “Hello,”

…

“Yeah mate, that’s exactly what I mean! Thanks!” he says before hanging up and looking at us,

“I know where we need to go next,”

“Great! But first, we need to get those bombs out of you. I have a plan,” she says holding up her sonic.

 

* * *

 

"Hey!" Yaz called, running after the woman who was quickly guiding them all towards Grace's car, trying to get her attention. The other three were a ways behind them and Yaz needed to give her something. The woman turned to face her expectantly, not slowing down at all.

"What is it, Yaz?" She asked.

Yaz looked back, making sure the others were still out of hearing range, before reaching into her pocket for the object she had picked up off the floor of the train. She handed it to the woman, who took it in surprise. 

"This bounced off of me when you all got zapped on the train. I kept it." Yaz started. "Thought we might need it." 

The woman holds up the tiny bomb, looking at it in the moonlight. She chuckles slightly. 

"We definitely will be having a conversation later. All of us." She finishes, glancing back towards the rest of the group. 

Yaz's eyes immediately widened. "What?" She exclaimed, louder than she probably should have, looking back to make sure they couldn't be heard before continuing. "I barely know them. And, why would I need to tell them about mindreading and my ability to protect myself?" She questions nervously.

The blonde sighed. "I don't think those are they only things you can do." She says matter of fact.

Yaz's eyes widen. "Wha-What do you mean?" She asks, slightly fearful at someone finding out. 

The woman's expression changed to one of understanding. 

"Don't hide who you are Yaz. They're good people, or they wouldn't be here helping me. Helping us." She said, smiling slightly before turning serious again. "Besides, something tells me they're already going to know by the end of the night." 

"What makes you say that?" Asks Yaz in confusion.

"You help people, Yaz. I've only know you for a couple of hours and I can already tell that." 

"What does that have to do with it?" 

The woman smiles again. "If you're able to save someone with these powers you have, I think you're going to." She raises an eyebrow in challenge. "Aren't you?" 

Yaz sighs, knowing she was right that her powers were probably going to be revealed to these near strangers tonight.

"Alright. Fine."

The blonde smiles proudly, before coming up on Grace's car and getting in, the rest of them closely behind.

As they're in the car Ryan asks Yaz from his spot next to her, "So what were you two talking about? Looked serious."

Yaz and the woman shared a glance before Yaz turned back to the boy. "Just about what the plan is tonight." She says, which wasn't completely a lie.

This seemed to satisfy him because he nodded, turning to look out the window as they sped down the highway.  

 

* * *

 

 

The next place they all end up is on the roof of an electrical tower with the pile of wires they encountered in the train.

With the wires the blonde brought from the warehouse they were able to subdue it long enough to figure out what it was which, according to the woman, it is a gathering coil. To gather information on a specific person, who, in this case, happens to be Carl. The man from the train.

Before they are able to figure anything else out though, they are interrupted by a low voice coming from behind them,

“Which one of you should I kill first?”

We all slowly turn around as the woman steps in front of all of us, “I vote none of us. Stay behind me.”

As the woman and this creature, who reveals his face to have the teeth of his victims embedded in it, talk about his mission and whether or not he cheated, Yaz concentrates once again on pushing herself into someone’s mind. The creature. It’s difficult, giving her a slight headache. Maybe because he’s so different from her, but she’s still able to figure out some things.

He is going to be leader of his people if he completes this mission. But if he fails he will be exiled and seen as weak. He’s after Carl because that is his mission. To secure a victim and bring them back to his home.

The woman and the creature continue talking, her smart ass nature almost getting us killed as she slowly moves us around away from the coil. We watch as the creature, called Tzim Shaw walks towards the coil, receiving the information it has gathered. Of course, Yaz got it too, still being in his mind. She was almost overwhelmed by the amount of information she was receiving. The woman steps towards him.

“If you’re finished, let’s be really clear. You’re not taking anyone from Earth tonight. Leave now, or we’re going to stop you.”

And he disappeared, severing the connection with Yaz too quickly, giving her a slight headache.

“Short range teleport! Double cheat! Let’s go.”

“Where?” Comes Graham’s confused voice,

That’s where Yaz steps in, “Isn’t it obvious? It’s hunting Carl.”

“Exactly,” says the blonde looking slightly surprised that someone else had gotten to that conclusion around the same time she did, “Now, we need to figure out where Carl works.”  

“I know that one,” says Yaz, “I can tell you how to get there,”

 

* * *

 

 

“I still don’t know how you figured out where he works that quickly, Yaz,” comes Ryan’s voice as they walk onto the crane company’s grounds.

Yaz panics slightly and improvises, “He told me when I was interviewing him on the train.”

This was apparently believable to everybody but the blonde woman as she just smiles slightly in a way that shows that she knows where she really got the information.

“Alright, Graham, Grace, you clear the grounds. Don’t care how. Use your initiative,” she says to the older two before turning to the other two, “Yaz, Ryan. How are you with machinery?”

“…And heights.”

Ryan, Yaz and the strange woman climb to the top of the crane across from Carl’s, only stopping for her to yell at Carl to leave his crane and climb out onto the arm of it.

“Okay, I’m going to climb out on the arm of this crane while you two line it up with Carl’s crane. He’ll jump across, you swing the arm away, I’ll bring him in and all back down for a cuppa and a fried egg sandwich. I’m really craving a fried egg sandwich,”

“Sound simple enough?”

Yaz and Ryan look at each other with an incredulous look before looking back at her,

“Not really.”

“Alright, it’s not perfect but that’s life,” she says as she pulls something out of one of her many pockets, “Oh, and I found these downstairs, one of them should work. Good luck,” and she drops the many keys in Yaz’s hand and runs to the arm of the crane.

Yaz looks at Ryan and shrugs, “Let’s go, I guess.”

The two of them climb to the control box and start trying the many keys given to them and it’s not until the woman is at the edge of the arm of the crane and they’re on the last key that they finally get the crane to start. Yaz has no idea how to work a crane but luckily Ryan has his phone to look up directions.

She looks at the phone and then presses what she assumes to be the correct lever, slowly moving the crane to the left.

“That’s the wrong way Yaz, go the other way!”

“I know, shut up!” she says in frustration, moving the lever the other way.

The arms of the cranes are almost lined up when suddenly the power in the crane goes out. They can only assume it is the work of the electrical coil disconnecting the electricity from the crane.

“Ugh!” comes Yaz’s frustrated voice, already knowing that the cranes were too far apart for Carl to jump across and make it. She knew what she was going to have to do, annoyed at the blonde's prediction coming true so soon. And, as much as she doesn’t want to, this is what she asked for. To do more.

“Ryan, don’t think any less of me for this,” says Yaz, placing her hand flat on the control board. Frustration flares in her again, knowing she's not going to have enough focus to keep her magic clear. She groans, but begins pushing her magic out anyway. 

“What are-“ he cuts off as he sees purple whisps coming from Yaz’s hand, sneaking into the control board. All at once, the power comes back on and Yaz moves the lever to the right again, watching with glowing eyes the woman’s crane move closer and line up with Carl’s crane. She lets go of the lever and moves her hand as the cranes line up. Watching and not wanting to see the look that is undoubtedly on Ryan’s face,

“Not now, Ryan. I’ll explain later. To everyone.”

She feels Ryan’s head turn back towards where the woman is trying to talk Carl into jumping across. He finally builds up his courage and does it, only to be pulled back to his side by Tzim Shaw. They see the blonde look on with helplessness before backing up, her intention clear,

“Oh, my God,” they all say as they see her start running towards the edge of her crane.

Yaz’s instincts kick in, and just in time, as her brain connects to the woman’s and she sees her intentions the second she begins backing up, the purple wisps once again leave her hand, moving much faster than they had earlier in an effort to make it to the woman before she jumped.

It was by pure luck that, when the woman jumped from her crane to Carl’s and slipped, Yaz’s mist was already there, surrounding her and giving her time to grab hold of the bar above her. As she does, she looks back towards where Yaz is and gives her a grateful, knowing smile, which Yaz responds to with a nod.

She feels the eyes of Ryan, Grace, and Graham on her, and knows she has a lot to explain to all of them. She keeps her eyes on the doctor, still reaching out with her power, keeping close in case Tzim Shaw tries anything.

She can’t hear what they’re saying from here so she connects to the woman’s mind so she will be able to hear what she hears,

“Stop right there!”

Tzim Shaw turns around slowly and Yaz can feel his surprise at the sight before him. This woman, surrounded by a purple mist.

He slowly takes off his mask, shocking Carl before the woman begins speaking again,

“Let him go. Or I destroy this,” pausing to dig through her pockets, mumbling as she does so before pulling out the recall she knew he needed to get home, “the recall from the pod you travelled here in. I took it out. Without this you can’t get home,”

Tzim Shaw takes a heavy step towards the woman, causing Yaz’s power to move forward just slightly. The blonde moves quickly, though. Shifting to hold the recall over the edge of the crane, stopping the creature in his tracks.

“If I go over, this goes with me. Then you’re stuck.” She taunts before continuing,

“What do you do with them, your human trophies?”

“They’re held in stasis. In our trophy chambers. On the cusp between life and death.”

At that Yaz had to gasp, causing Ryan to look at her. She quickly shook her head, not wanting to lose concentration, again focusing on the conversation going on down below.

“Left to rot? How obscene.”

“They’re not important.”

“If I don’t stop you your people will keep doing this.”

“Give me the circuit. Or I detonate the bombs I placed in your friends,” he says reaching to prepare the bombs for detonation with the switch at his neck.

The blonde scoffs, “More weapons. Did your pet put one in Carl, too?” She says, gesturing towards said man.

“There was no need. He was tagged. He is the trophy.”

“I thought as much. Right, you detonate the bombs, I’ll destroy the recall. What’s it gonna be then?”

“Poor Tim Shaw. The wannabe leader who has to cheat because he knows he’s unworthy. See, that’s why I know you won’t detonate. Although, you could prove me wrong. After all, we are all capable of the most incredible change. We can evolve, while still staying true to who we are. We can honor who we’ve been and choose who we want to be next. Now’s your chance. How about it?”

Tzim Shaw looks on in awe. At this person standing tall even in the face of danger, with fire in her eyes and a purple mist surrounding her on all sides.

“Who are you?”

“Ha! I’m glad you asked that again. Bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage, and a hint of panic knitted my brain back together. I know exactly who I am,” she pauses as she takes a step forward into the moonlight,

“I’m the Doctor.”

Now that she's finally said her name, although odd, Yaz can't imagine her being called anything else.

“Sorting out fair play throughout the universe. Now, please, get off this planet while you still have a choice.”

Yaz almost thought that the creature was going to take the Doctor’s words to heart and leave. But, then he did what she figured he would do in the end and set off the DNA bombs. It was a moment before anything happened, but when it did, it was him writhing in pain. Groaning while he was literally melting.

“Disappointing, really. I hoped you’d choose different,” came the Doctor’s voice once again, “I took those nasty little things out of my friends and placed them in your gathering coil. Your transference wasn’t just data, it was physical. You got everything transferred, including five DNA bombs. You did this to yourself. Now, go home.” The Doctor finished and threw the recall at the dying creature.

Before he could do anything with it though, Carl tripped him from where he still lie on the ground, causing him to fall off the crane. Tzim Shaw placed the recall on his chest and disappeared before he hit the ground. Leaving silence.

 

* * *

 

 

The Doctor, Ryan and Yaz all climbed back to the ground and Yaz's heart immediately sank into her stomach. Graham was kneeling over something on the ground and, upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Grace, lying on the ground. Dead. 

Apparently after clearing the site, Grace dragged Graham back to the grounds and climbed up the other crane, water hose in hand, in hopes of killing the gathering coil. But, as she yelled at Graham to turn on the hose, the coil fought back. She was electrocuted and fell back off of the crane, however many feet it was above the ground. 

By the time Graham made it to her it was too late. She was gone. 

Yaz and the Doctor stood back in silence as Ryan ran to kneel next to Graham, sobbing as they held on to each other. 

_This is my fault._

Yaz felt guilty but that wasn't her own thought. She looked over to the Doctor and, although confused, wasn't surprised to see a look of guilt on the Doctor's face. Apparently she was still connected to the Doctor's mind. 

Yaz pushed towards the Doctor mentally and placed herself in her mind, not wanting to speak and break Ryan and Graham's moment of mourning.

_It's not._

The Doctor startles, looking towards Yaz in surprise and sadness, before turning into acceptance and turning her eyes to the ground at her feet. 

_It is. I could have stopped this. Grace is dead because you lot came along with me, because I pushed._

Staring back Yaz thought that was ridiculous. She would have followed the Doctor anyway, whether or not she had asked. She was insane, sure, but it only took a few words for you to realize that she is someone to follow. Someone who would do their best to protect those who need protecting. So, shaking her head, Yaz replied,

_No. Grace isn't dead because you asked us to come with you. Grace is brave. Braver than anyone I've ever known and she would have ended up in the middle of this regardless of whether or not you asked us to come. I mean really, if it's anyone's fault it's mine. I literally have powers and I couldn't save her._

The guilt Yaz is feeling peaks, bringing tears to her eyes.

The Doctor finally looked up, surprised to see tears in the eyes of her friend and moving closer on instinct. 

_No, Yaz._

She reaches out and tangles their fingers together.

_Nobody can save everyone. Not even someone as powerful as you._

Yaz's mouth curls into a small smile. 

_Maybe you should take your own advice, Doctor._

The corner of her mouth twitches. 

_Maybe I should._

Ryan and Graham finally stand, wiping the smiles off of their faces as they wait for them to speak. 

It's Graham that breaks the silence, tears streaming down his face. 

"We need to call 9-1-1. You two don't have to be here for that. It's actually probably better you aren't, so they don't start asking you questions. Especially since Yaz is police and you're not even a human."

Him and Ryan look at each other before the latter continues looking back at them,

"We're going to have a funeral tomorrow. At the church Gran goe-" He looks away for a second before looking back, "went to." 

"We'd like it if you two would be there. Nan would want you two there." 

Yaz looked at the Doctor, who nodded. 

"If you want us there then of course we'll be there."

He nods slowly, and Yaz reaches towards him to wrap him in her arms. He holds tight before pulling away and looking between her and the Doctor.

"And we need to talk. After the funeral would be best, I think. But we do need to talk."

Yaz grimaced, knowing this was coming. Looking towards the Doctor, who nodded, and turning back before replying,

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

 

* * *

 

 

The funeral is passed, and the group is all sitting outside of Graham's house, him not wanting to go in just yet. Not wanting to be reminded of the life he had. They were all gathered by the walkway, Yaz sat against a tree in front of the other three, who were standing in the walkway leaning against the walls, looking at her. 

It was silent, which Yaz didn't like, knowing what they were about to talk about, what with it being after the funeral. Wanting to break the silence, she spoke.

"I know you probably have questions. About me," She started before taking a deep breath, "Go for it."

It was silent once again for a few moments before, like she knew the would, the Doctor spoke up. 

"So, powers." 

Yaz nods once.

"Yup.

"Do you know how you got them. Are they genetic, or were you exposed to something? Or, is it something else entirely? Oh! Or is it-"

"Doctor!"

She immediately stops talking, waiting for Yaz, who shakes her head exasperatedly, to speak again.

"I'm not sure how I got them. I've poked around a little but I haven't found anything. It's possible that it's genetic but you would think that I'd have heard something from someone in my family before now."

"Maybe not, if they just didn't know anybody else had it. Or, it skips generations and there were no signs of anyone else having it. That's interesting. If only I had my ship. We could've scanned you and possibly figured it out."

Yaz takes her word for it. Maybe at some point she would get the chance to bring it up without seeming crazy, or without worrying about whether or not she would be taken away. She sighs. 

"Yeah. That would definitely clear things up." 

She stops talking, looks around at Ryan and Graham, before speaking again. "Anything else?"

"What is that covering your skin?" The Doctor started. "The other day on the train, and even now, I can see it. Just barely." She finishes, looking at Yaz with narrowed eyes, studying her. 

Yaz guesses it's not surprising that the Doctor is the only person able to see the layer of magic surrounding her. She looks around and chuckles slightly, seeing Ryan and Graham looking at her with extreme concentration, and then frustration at not seeing anything. "You won't be able to see it." She says to them, laughing at their disappointment before turning back to the Doctor. 

"It's a kind of shield I guess. That I can form around my body to protect myself from physical attacks. That's why the DNA bomb couldn't puncture my skin. I've done it enough that it covers me without me having to really think about it. A lot of practice, I suppose." 

"Why is this clear but the other night it was purple as well?" The Doctor asked in confusion and curiosity. 

"I keep the shield around me clear so it's easier to go undetected. It doesn't take a lot of focus for that since I've done it so many times. But, anything other than the shield I have to keep it purple if I want it to really be effective." She says. "Apparently you have really top notch eyesight, because you're the first person I've met that can see my shield. I'm impressed." 

The Doctor grins. "Right, that is. Perfect sight this time 'round." 

Yaz laughs lightly, not quite getting what she meant when she said 'this time 'round', but turning towards Ryan and Graham anyway. 

"Either of you have anything to ask?"

Ryan exchanges a look with Graham, and then, quite excitedly, asks the question she was actually expecting to be asked first,

"So, what all can you do?"

Yaz smiles down at her lap, glad to see that they all seem to be excited rather than scared or freaked out. 

"Besides the telekinesis and telepathy," she looks up, "which is how I figured out where Carl worked, I can manipulate my energy into different forms. I can form a shield, I can shoot it out of my fists, I can manipulate time. I could honestly probably fly if I was given enough space."

Her friends eyes get wider each time she lists off another ability. Graham speaks up for the first time,

"Manipulate time? How does that work?"

"Well, to you lot it would probably look like super speed. Like, blink and you'll miss it super speed. I could show you if you want?"

The three exchange looks of varying degrees of excitement before they turn to look at her again, the Doctor seemingly the spokesperson,

"You don't have to if you don't want to Yaz. It's no pressure if it's not something you want to do."

"I know, I do. I just.. I've never had someone I can be myself around. Someone that knows about what I can do. I don't mind, really. You guys feel comfortable to me."

They made eye contact for the time, the Doctor concernedly scanning Yaz's face for any sign of discomfort. Not finding any, the concern melted away into excitement. The Doctor nodded. 

"Okay. If you're sure."

Yaz smiled, amused at the quick expression change, made even better with the obviously over-sized suit and waist coat, before glancing around, looking for something to snatch and bring back to the group. Off to her right she spotted a small rock in the entryway of Graham's house. Perfect.

"Okay, you see that rock over there?" Gesturing at said rock and waiting for their acknowledgment before continuing, "I'm going to grab it and bring it back over here. Pay attention, or you'll miss it." The looks of excitement changed into looks of concentration. 

"Ready?" 

Three nods.

"Alright, somebody count down."

Confusion. Ryan speaks.

"Aren't you going to stand up?"

"No. Now count down."

They share a look before shrugging and counting down together.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One!"

They look over to the rock only to find it gone, and quickly look back to the tree to find Yaz once again leaning against it, smirk on her face, rock between her thumb and forefinger, and with only a trail of purple mist and the glow fading from her eyes as indication that she had moved at all. 

There was silence, and then there wasn't. Everybody began talking over everyone at once.

"Brilliant!"

"How did you-!?"

"That doesn't make-!"

Yaz laughed, seeing their looks of awe. It was hilarious. 

"I told you you'd miss if if you weren't paying attention."

The smile left her face as she turned to Graham and Ryan, wanting to address something that's been eating away at her since the night before. 

"Graham, Ryan..."

They realized she was about to say something serious and turned to her with looks of concern forming on their faces.

"I'm sorry about Grace," she looks down at the rock she's currently fiddling with. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her. If only I was paying more attention-"

"Yaz," Graham cuts her off, waiting until she looks back at him before continuing, "it wasn't your fault. I would never blame you for this, and neither would Ryan." He gestured to the boy in question, who was nodding in agreement, before speaking again. "These things happen. Albeit, not usually under these circumstances, but, accidents happen. It's nobody's fault."

"I suppose." Says Yaz, feeling the weight lifting off her shoulders. There was just one more thing. "And you lot won't think any different of me for having these powers? It won't change how you think of me?" She asks, looking between the three of them.

"Of course not Yaz," comes Ryan's answer. "You're still just Yaz. Powers don't change that."

"Alright. Thanks guys."

Yaz finally smiles, feeling much lighter, before remembering something, and turning to the Doctor.

"Have you got family?"

Something changed in her expression that Yaz couldn't name, taking a deep breath

"No. Lost them a long time ago."

Ryan looks at her in sympathy and genuine curiosity,

"How'd you cope with that?"

"I carry them with me. What they would've thought. And said, and done. Make them a part of who I am. So, even though they're gone from the world. They're never gone from me."

"That was beautiful. Something Grace would've said," says Graham, with a small smile on his face, pulling one from the Doctor in return, who looked down towards her dress shoes in silence for a few minutes, and reminding Yaz of something else. 

 

"And Doctor, we really need to get you out of those clothes," she says, before realizing how that sounds and blushing, glad her skin is so dark and hides most of the extra color. 

The Doctor didn't seem to notice, looking down at her outfit before looking up again, hearing snickers from Graham and Ryan.

"Right. Yeah. Been a long time since I've bought women's clothes. A little help maybe?"

"Yeah 'course. Why don't Ryan and Yaz go with you. I'm going to hang out here for a while. Think a little."

"Sure," says Yaz, before pulling Ryan and the Doctor in the direction of her car, leaving Graham with a smile. "We'll meet up with you later, yeah?"

"Yeah." 

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was time for The Doctor to leave and go find her TARDIS and so, after spending a few days in Sheffield and finding a new set of clothes that somehow seemed to suit her perfectly, a seemingly random combination of long and short-sleeved shirts, pants, suspenders, and an ear cuff, she was ready to leave,          

They were all four back in the warehouse, each holding something that would help the doctor in some way,

“How long do we have to stand here for? I’m getting a cramp,” says Graham after standing there in a slightly awkward position for quite a long period of time.           

“Seriously, Graham. I'm trying to concentrate here." Comes the not quite scolding voice of the Doctor.        

“Do you understand what she’s doing?” Ryan whispers to Yaz, who shrugs.        

“My ship uses a particular type of energy. I’ve tracked that energy trail from the moment I lost it to where it is now,” says The Doctor moving over to them,          

“Now, given this is a transport pod, I’m configuring it to send me to the planet where my ship seems to have ended up.”          

That caught Yaz’s attention, “You’re going to another planet?”          

“Well, trying to. Except Stenza technology is really annoying and super hard to decipher.”           

“Right. Graham, plug those into there,” She says, handing him jumper cables which he then connects to the battery he is currently holding.           

“Yaz, threat the cable into the top and Ryan, you turn the switch.”          

“Okay, you three. I’m almost gonna miss you. Especially you, Yaz.”          

“Hey!” Came two indignant yells.          

“Sorry! She’s got powers! Way cooler.” She says by way of explanation before turning and flipping the switch on what looks like a microwave.         

“Alright. Wish me luck. And goodbye,” The Doctor finishes before pointing her sonic and pressing the button, that tell tale buzzing filling the room. All the rooms occupants flinch away from where she’s pointing before everything goes dark. 

And everything is cold.


	3. Ghost Monument (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz, Graham, Ryan, and The Doctor end up on an alien planet in hopes of finding the TARDIS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Monument (Part 1)

Yaz wakes up to slightly blurred vision and the sound of a vaguely familiar voice speaking in a tone that she was very glad to not be on the receiving end of.

As her eyesight starts to clear she beings looking around and registering exactly where she is and what had happened to land her here.

She was in space. She was in that warehouse and now she’s in space. No way.

It’s just then she notices where she is. Standing inside what looks like a pod before the doors slide open and she’s able to step out.

That was when she finally realizes whose voice, she heard speaking and feels immense relief that she wasn’t alone. She has The Doctor with her, who she now hears arguing with someone else through the doors to her left.

She creeps forward towards the doors and they slide open just before she reaches them, greeting her with the sight of The Doctor yelling something about the ship they were on shutting down and a man sitting in chair, appearing to be piloting the ship while glaring at the woman to the left of him.

“How can a planet be in the wrong place? I should’ve been back there where I scooped you up. We should be in its gravity belt by now” Comes the voice of the pilot, speaking a sentence Yaz never thought she’d hear.

“Well. We’re not.” Says the doctor with no small amount of sarcasm.

“I can see that, thanks.” Replies the man, turning to glare at the woman once again.

That’s when Yaz decided to speak up, unable to keep quiet any longer.

“Hi. I can smell burning.”

The pilot turns to her, and speaks to The Doctor, “You were right. She is still alive.”

“Yaz! You need to stay locked in the medipod!” Says the woman in question, gesturing towards the pod Yaz had stepped out of only minutes before.

Yaz ignore her and instead asked, “Where’s Graham and Ryan?”

She was ignored in favor of The Doctor pointing and shouting, “There! The planet’s there!”

This is obviously unusual as the pilot rises from his seat, looking in the direction The Doctor had previously pointed in,

“How can it be there?”

“Does is even have a name?”

“Only a symbol. Or a warning. Closest word is... Is Desolation.”

The Doctor and Yaz only stare at him before he continues, “Right. I can do this, I’m not going to be beaten. Move!” He says, shoving Yaz as he walks past her, The Doctor catching her as she falls back into her. Yaz gains her stability just as the hears the man begin talking again.

“I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve,” before bending over and lifting a grate in the floor, pulling up two cords.

“Manual shield activation?” Comes The blonde’s incredulous voice, “what, this thing should be on Antique’s Road Show!”

She’s ignored by the pilot, “Right. Blast shields up. Don’t know how long they’ll last for though.”

The Doctor scoffs, “Great. About to crash land on Desolation. Real grounds for optimism.”

“Do you not understand anything? I can’t even get us there! Because of the fuel I’ve wasted scooping you two up!”

As Yaz hears the heated argument between the woman and this obviously harsh pilot, her mind finally starts clearing and she can begin piecing things together. They need to be able to make it to that planet,

“I’m on a space ship. Okay.”

Her brain starts putting together a way that she will be able to help. After all, she has powers.

Finally piecing together, a plan, Yaz starts pushing into the Doctor’s mind to see what she’s thinking as well. As she enters her mind, she feels the woman cycling through a multitude of scenarios to see which one would benefit them the most when she lands on something Yaz can see herself able to help with. Yaz pushes herself deeper into the Doctor’s mind to form a connection and speak to her,

“ _Doctor!”_

_“Not now Yaz, really!”_

_“No, but Doctor! I can get us there! To the planet! If you suggest what you were just thinking! He won’t listen to me.”_ And Yaz pushes just a little more to show the Doctor her exact plan in her head. The woman looks up from what she’s doing with a look of wonder and pride on her face,

“Do it, Yaz.”

At the abrupt break in the lack of voices in the ship, the pilot looks up in confusion, “Do what?”

The Doctor breaks the eye contact she is currently holding with Yaz to turn to the man, “We need to jettison the rear section of the ship.”

“What?! No way! Nobody is jettisoning anything! This ship is the envy of millions!

“No, listen! If we do this, my friend can land us on that planet!”

“How the hell can she do that!? She’s not a pilot!”

The Doctor and Yaz meet each other’s eyes once more before the brunette turns to the man, “No I’m not. I’m something else entirely. Now are we doing this or what?”

There must have been something in her eyes because he looked between them with a measuring look on his face,

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

Immediately the Doctor sprang into action, closing the doors Yaz had walked through just after she woke up, the pilot following to stand opposite her.

“Ready, Yaz?” She says, looking towards the woman in question who in turn closed her eyes, pulling her power to the surface of her skin, feeling it running through her veins. When she opened them, she looked down to see the telltale purple wisps coming from her hands and looked up with glowing eyes,

“Ready.”

The Doctor, who had been looking at Yaz's eyes in wonder, finally looked over to the pilot, whose eyes had widened in response to the magic coming from Yaz’s hands and the appearance of purple in her eyes before snapping out of his stupor and looking back at The Doctor, nodding once.

“On three,”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three…”

And all at once, the wires were disconnected, and the entire back half of the ship was lost to the openness of space. The pilot looked at the Doctor,

“Your friend better be as powerful as you say she is.”

Yaz knew it was going to be difficult, but certainly not impossible. She could have done it with the back half of the ship but that would have cost her much more energy and it would have been a bumpier ride. And, in all honesty, she didn’t much like the pilot. He seemed rude.

So, Yaz reached down to press both hands flat against the floor of the ship. They were almost within the atmosphere of the planet and she knew that once they entered the atmosphere and were subject to the planet’s gravity, they were going to need to cut the engines. The pilot wasn’t going to like that, but it had to be done.

Purple wisps transferred from Yaz’s hands into the floorboards of the ship, wrapping around it and helping what little fuel they had guide them to the atmosphere. Continuing to do this, Yaz spoke, “When we enter the atmosphere, you’re going to need to cut the engines,”

“What? No, why?”

Yaz let out a frustrated groan, eyes flashing, even knowing he was going to fight her on this, “Because, I can already feel the thrusters fighting against me and it will only get worse once we enter the atmosphere and are under the planet’s gravitational pull.”

The pilot looked to the Doctor incredulously, who just shrugged and said, “You heard her.”

“Damn it. Fine.” Comes the exasperated reply.

“We’ll be entering the atmosphere in about 15 seconds.”

Everything was quiet for 10 of those.

“Alright. Cutting the engines in three…”

“Two…”

Yaz begins preparing herself for the drop that will inevitably happen and preparing to carry the whole ship, knowing it will use quite a large amount of energy, “Hold on to something, you two,”

“One.”

The whole ship drops the second the man turns the key, turning off the engines and lending control of the ship entirely over to Yaz, who was very obviously concentrating,

“Hold on!” Yells Yaz, not quite able to get a hold on the ship yet.

“We are holding on!” Comes the Doctor’s voice.

“Well hold on tighter!”

“What are you doing?! I thought you said you could land us safely!” Screams the pilot quite loudly, which annoyed Yaz a lot, who said,

“I never said anything about safely!” Even as the ship began leveling out and becoming much less turbulent than it was seconds before.

Finally, Yaz got a grip on the ship, wrapping her powers around it fully, supporting its weight. It was difficult, she will admit never having used her powers for something like this. As the ride smoothed out, she spoke, slightly out of breath.

“Alright you should be good, you can get up now,” she says, still concentrating heavily on the task at hand.

“Good job, Yaz,” Comes the proud voice of the Doctor along with a soft touch to her shoulder that made her smile slightly, the touch making her lose concentration for a small second, the ship shuttering once before she gets it back under control.

“Sorry, happens sometimes,” She says sheepishly as explanation.

They continue gliding at a manageable speed towards the surface of the planet, getting close enough to see the lack of life. Desolation was right. There was nothing on this planet but sand.

That’s why it’s surprising that when they get a little closer, they see three figures walking on the surface.

Yaz feels her hopes get up as she recognizes Ryan’s tall figure, even from the distance they’re at.

“Doctor! That’s Ryan! Somebody else must have picked them up!”

The Doctor comes to stand beside her,

“Brilliant!” She says with that wide smile on her face.

When they get even closer, they see the group stop walking and turn, obviously seeing them approaching.

So, as to not hit them, Yaz begins angling the ship upwards so she can land a way in front of them but, for some reason the figures on the ground begin sprinting ahead like they’re afraid the ship is going to land on them.

“No! Stop running!” Says Yaz as she begins trying to correct herself, pulling back abruptly. The ship shutters with the effort of it and Yaz almost drops it, quickly reaching out again and getting the breath knocked out of her.

The figures finally stop running when they see the ship abruptly stop coming towards them, floating in mid air and Yaz reaches out with her mind at Ryan. She’s unable to speak with him as most of her concentration was on landing the ship, but she can push into his mind and let him know it’s her.

She feels Ryan’s relief as though it is her own and slowly begins lowering the ship until she feels the bottom of it touch the sandy ground, a bit rougher than she intended she will admit, causing the ship’s occupants to nearly fall to the ground,

“Oops, sorry! Need to work on my landings, I suppose.” Says Yaz apologetically, breathing hard.

The Doctor laughs quietly, “Yaz, you are something else. Something amazing.”

And Yaz would never admit to the blush that filled her cheeks at that.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so it's like a lot of time and work to make each episode just one chapter, so I've decided to break each episode down into two or three parts and post them separately.  
> If you think about it it's a win-win for both of us. I get to type for less time and you guys get updates more often!
> 
> So, this is Ghost Monument Part 1


	4. Ghost Monument (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Monument (Part 2)

Finally, having landed the ship, The Doctor along with Yaz and Epzo, the man having finally told her his name, jump out, landing on the soft sand of the planet below them.

“Doctor!”

She turns immediately at the familiar voice of Ryan calling her name, seeing him running towards her with Grace and Graham not far behind him.

She feels Yaz come stand beside her before they both begin running forwards towards the rest of their little group.

As they reach each other, Ryan wraps the Doctor up in a short hug while Graham goes for Yaz,

“We thought we’d lost you,” says Graham, “Had no idea if we’d ever make it back home.”

The Doctor answers as she pulls away from Ryan, “Ah, a little space and time isn’t enough to get rid of us.”

She looked over at Yaz who was looking around and felt eyes on her, looking back at The Doctor, “Actually… We probably wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Yaz.”

Yaz became very interested in the sand at her feet at that comment, color flooding her cheeks, “Ah, give yourself more credit. You would have figured it out even if I wasn’t there.”

The moment was broken as they all heard Epzo arguing with the woman who apparently was the one to pull the other two from space.

“Look at you, Epzo! So, you can’t even control your own ship now? You nearly killed us!”

“Yeah, well, I’ll try harder next time, eh?” Is the reply before Epzo begins walking ahead of her,

“Well, it’s just you and me now. The other two are gone,”

“How?”

“Failed hyper jump.”

Epzo chuckled, “Ah you’ve gotten so lucky. How did you even make it this far, Angstrom, eh? You’re nothing,” he says, continuing after realizing she wasn’t going to speak,

“Still. Makes the next bit easy.”

Angstrom laughs at that, “You would really love that, wouldn’t you? But I’ve got two bonuses! Same as you!” She finishes before she gets cut off by an alarm blaring through the air.

The Doctor turns in surprise, “What’s that?”

Nobody answers but both Epzo and Angstrom jump down from the small cliff they were standing on with a, “Here we go!” Which confused The Doctor even more.

“What do you mean here we go? Here we go where? To what?” She says before following the two ahead of her, gesturing for everyone else to follow,

“Yaz, you stay close to me. You might be useful here.”

Yaz scurries up to stand beside The Doctor, never feeling more grateful for her powers.

Ryan speaks up, “Where are we actually going?”

He is ignored as they all begin walking.

The walk is rather long, sand blowing up all around them,

“All this sand is getting in my eyes,” Comes Graham’s voice from behind them.

The Doctor begins rummaging through her coat pockets before finding what she’s looking for, “Want to borrow my shades?”

“Ah, ta.”

“They’re an old pair of mine. Well, I say mine, I can’t remember who I borrowed them off now. It was either Audrey Hepburn or Pythagoras.”

“Pythagoras didn’t wear shades,”

“Obviously never saw him with a hangover,”

And that was the last of the conversation before they all came up over a hill, revealing a white tent at the bottom of it.

“Do you two know what that it?” The Doctor asked the people in question.

“It’s a tent.”

The Doctor scoffed. Really?

“Oh, I know it’s a tent. I meant-“ she starts before they begin walking, ignoring her completely,

“Oh, never mind. Come on,” The Doctor begins walking, gesturing for the others to follow, “No dawdling.”

When the five of them reach the tent the other two are already standing at the opening at the front, obviously deciding who should go in first before Angstrom speaks up with a smirk, “Losers first,” gesturing towards the opening.

Epzo turns to Angstrom like he’s about to say something before scoffing and walking in anyway, the rest of them following.

When they enter, the first thing they see is a man sitting directly in front of the opening in some sort of throne.

The Doctor looks to Yaz, tilting her head towards the man, hoping she’ll know what she’s getting at. Lucky her, Yaz is a brilliant human and nods back before focusing on the man in front of them.

Immediately something is off. She can’t read him.

So, she does something she seems to be doing a lot of lately and connects her mind with The Doctors, vaguely noting that her head hasn't begun hurting, pushing a little to let her know she’s there before speaking,

_“I can’t read him. He’s not actually here.”_

_“Hmm. Hologram, then. Well done, Yaz.”_

The Doctor then speaks out loud, “This is lavish for a tent. I’m The Doctor and these are my new best friends, Ryan, Graham, and Yaz,” gesturing to each of them before continuing, “Now…” she says, reaching forward and sweeping her hand in front of her. Where the others, except for Yaz, of course, thought she would come into contact with the man in front of her, her hand instead went right through her, to their surprise.

“Ahh. A hologram. Thought it might be. I love holograms. I was a hologram once,” she says, obviously about to go on one of her tangents before looking around the room, seeing that it really wasn’t the time,

“Right. What are you? Projection reality or AI interface? Cuz if you’re interface, she says stepping closer, “Those are excellent nose hairs.”

Yaz sighs, using the mind link once again, _“Doctor, get on with it.”_

That snapped her out of it,

“Right.”

The man finally spoke,

“Who are these people?”

“Bonuses!” Says Angstrom.

“No.”

“What?” That was Epzo.

“I told you. Bonuses and snake traps are over.”

Epzo begins to get angry, “They were hanging in the star field as we exited hyper jump. Are you saying we scooped them for nothing?”

“Yes.”

“I sacrificed my ship!”

That’s when The Doctor jumps in, “Yeah. Sorry. Some of this is my fault,” turning to the man, “Hi. We were loads of solar systems away. I was trying to find my own ship and I got a fix on it here. And then it all went quite badly wrong actually. These four,” she says gesturing to the very confused occupants of the tent, “have been very good not going on about it.”

She then turns to Epzo, saying “very grateful you came along,” before turning back to the man, “What’s actually going on here because I’m confused.”

“You’re intruding on the final stage of the last of the Rally of the Twelve Galaxies.”

“So, what, like a race? Are you two space racing each other?” She asks the two competitors.

“We’re finalists!”

“4,000 entered. Two are left. Only one will claim the prize.”

“What’s the prize?” Comes Grace’s voice, having been quiet up until then.

“3.2 trillion Krin.”

“3.2 trillion what?” Asks The Doctor.

“Krin.” Answers Angstrom.

“How much is a Krin?”

“200 Kavlons.”

“That’s 94 Valoes.”

“No…” Says The Doctor looking between them proper confused.

Angstrom keeps it going, “4,000 Trenties,”

“Eh…”

“Oh, in old money.”

“Bit behind my exchange rates.”

They were about to continue when they were interrupted by the man in front of them,

“Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world for the winners entire clan.”

“Alright, get on with it. Tell us the task.”

“The final challenge is to cross the terrain, survive the planet, make your way to the other side of the mountains and the first one to get to the site known as the ghost monument will be crowned the winner and transported off this planet.”

“The loser, will not.”

Angstrom looked over at Epzo, “You can’t leave one of us here! The ships are out of fuel!”

The man stands and walks over to her, getting in her face, “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do with my own race. You knew the risks when you joined.” He says before standing tall and walking back to his thrown, “Biggest ever prize, biggest ever risk.”

The Doctor spoke up then, “Pretty cruel race, leaving the loser stranded.”

“The rally is a test of survival. How far will we go? How will we react when challenged? It’s the ultimate test.”

“Interesting you say the word ‘we’. Seeing as you’re not here.” She says, walking past him before pulling out her sonic and scanning him and looking at the readings,

“Projected here from a very long way away.”

“I started the rally. I competed and I won. And now I’m going to end it. No sabotage, no injuries, no killing each other.”

“Shame.” Says Epzo.

“Instant disqualification applies. Now, take your meds, don’t travel at night, and don’t drink the water. In fact, don’t even touch the water. This stage must be completed before one full solar rotation.”

“You have one, single form of assistance: transport. Provided by the water. Get across the water, through the ruins, and the site of the ghost monument is on the other side of the mist swamps,”

“Mist what?” Says Yaz incredulously, ignored completely.

“Your route trackers are over there. Good luck.”

The Doctor steps in, “Look, I know you prefer to ignore me, but what is it, this ghost monument?”

“The site was named by the ancient settlers. It appears in exactly the same place every thousand rotations.”

There is a pause in their conversation as Angstrom and Epzo get ready to leave, the previous saying, “I’ve got my tracker. I am good to go,” and the latter, “I’ll see you for the prize, Ilin. I’ll get to light my cigar.”

The Doctor turned back to the man, Ilin. “What does it look like, this ghost monument?”

“What does it matter,” Replies Ilin, walking through The Doctor just to annoy her.

“Look at us. Four people who barely know each other, stranded on a planet called Desolation. No route trackers, no way off, and judging by what you just told us, very little hope of survival. I need all the information I can get. Including, but not limited to, what this ghost monument actually looks like.”

Ilin looks at her for a moment before walking over to the table the group hadn’t noticed until now. He stood in front of it and raised his hands, causing the table to turn on and show was looks like a schematic version of the monument.

The group looks at it in confusion before Graham speaks up, “It’s an old police box! This doesn’t make any sense.”

They all look towards The Doctor who had a look of awe and relief on her face, “It makes sense to me.” Before looking at Ilin. “Thank you. Thank you so much. That’ll do.”

“Well I’m sorry I can’t be of any more help.”

“I don’t think you are.”

“You’re right.”

And the tent disappears, leaving them surrounded by sand on all sides, with Angstrom and Epzo nearly out of sight.

“Oh, bye then! He was a bit full of himself.” Says The Doctor.

“Okay,” says Yaz, “I’ve got a couple of questions.”

“A couple? I’ve got a book full, but shouldn’t we keep up with those two?” Comes Graham, pulling off the sunglasses and gesturing towards where the two competitors are walking.

“Yes,” replies The Doctor, beginning to walk after them before turning around and looking at them, “Look, I know this is all a bit of a shock.”

Graham's confusion turns incredulous, “You could say that. I mean, we have been dumped in space. We got space ships crashing all around us and we are marooned on a planet that everyone else is racing to get away from!”

“Alright, Graham, anyone can focus on the negatives.”

“Well, what are the positives?”

“What he called the ghost monument, that’s my ship!”

“The old police box?” Graham looks on in confusion.

“Didn’t look all that.” Says Ryan.

“It’s very all that, thank you very much!” Responds the doctor, looking quite offended on her ships behalf before turning once again to follow the two competitors.

“Now come on!”

 

It’s mostly silent as they continue the tiring walk across the sandy terrain of the planet. The only sounds being their heavy breathing and the wind blowing the sand all around them until they come up to the water. Angstrom and Epzo already there and arguing about who is going to get the boat until Yaz steps in to break up the unnecessary argument,

“We’re all going to the same place and that boat is big enough for all of us.”

“Yaz is right. When we get it started, we all get on board,” The Doctor says before leaning down to scan the water with her sonic, Yaz crouching down next to her.

“So that’s why he said don’t touch the water. Flesh eating microbes. Millions of them living in there.”

“Toxic atmosphere, killer water. Very dangerous planet, Yaz.” She finishes before standing up to go help the boys start the boat.

Once they finally figured out the boat is solar powered and lined up the panels, they were able to get it started and set off across the water.

After a few minutes of silence, it’s Ryan who breaks the silence, speaking to Yaz who is sitting to his left, “Hey Yaz, can you believe it? Alien planet, man.”

“I know, right?” Replies Yaz, directing a gentle smile at him.

Having seen the exchange and the resulting smile, The Doctor didn’t much like that conversation for reasons she doesn’t quite understand and hurried to change the subject,

“This planet doesn’t make any sense,” she begins, scanning the air again, “no other life forms except us and the microbes in the water. No people, no animals, no insects, no nothing. But he talked about the old settlements. What happened here?”

“No one cares.” Comes Epzo’s voice from the corner where he sat, slouched over.

As he told them his story about how he learned he couldn’t trust anyone, he was still mostly brushed off. Graham telling him that everybody needs people.

Eventually, almost everybody nodded off, leaving Yaz and The Doctor the only two awake, sitting in silence until the blonde broke it, speaking quietly so as to not wake the others,

“Yaz?”

Not expecting the break in quiet, Yaz looked up in surprise,

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Can I ask you about your powers?”

“Um, yeah, I suppose,”

Sensing her hesitation, The Doctor quickly backtracked, “If you’re not comfortable we don’t have to talk about it. We can talk about something else. Have I told you about the time-“ she breaks off abruptly as she feels Yaz’s hand cover her own and looks up to see amusement flashing across her companion’s face,

“Doctor,” she says, chuckling slightly, “You can ask me whatever you want.”

“Ah. Alright then,” she says, still reeling from Yaz’s touch, noticing she still hadn’t moved her hand. Seeing the blonde look at their hands, Yaz pulled back with a blush, grateful it was dark inside the boat, before nodding at The Doctor to continue.

“Well, I suppose I actually only have one question because it’s something I’ve been wondering for quite some time, but like I said, you don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable. I won’t-” she cuts off seeing the exasperated look on her friend’s face and instead takes a deep breath,

“Right. Okay. So, do you know where your powers came from? Because I’ve met all sorts of people with powers that got them through all sorts of things. Radioactive lightning strikes, family genetics, or even a bad case of the flu. But, I’ve never seen someone with your power. Or even with powers manifested the way yours are.”

Yaz pulls all this information in as she prepares to answer, “Well, I can tell you I’ve never been hit by lightning, so I suppose that’s out. And as for the other two, it just seems unlikely, especially since they came to be the day I turned 13,” she says, pausing to think,

“The truth is, I don’t know what gave me these powers, but maybe I’ll find some answers one day.”

The Doctor nodded and they lapsed back into silence until they both dozed off, falling asleep to get some much-needed rest, leaving the boat in complete silence, except for the sound of the water surrounding them.


	5. Ghost Monument (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Monument (Part 3)
> 
> 5,320 words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy guys what's up
> 
> It's been a while, I know. But I just graduated high school and have been trying to figure everything out for college this coming fall. And, honestly, I just haven't been very motivated. Recently, however, I've been inspired to begin writing this story again. 
> 
> So, I actually went back and rewrote the first four chapters of this story. I changed a few things that I had originally written so, if you were waiting for this chapter I highly recommend going back to the beginning and starting over. My writing style change and I changed a bit of the story itself so I hope you guys still like it. 
> 
> But anyway, back to the story. Here's a 5,000 word chapter. Read, review, and of course enjoy! Thanks!

 

 

 Once everyone, except Ryan, was awake again they sat in relative silence until the boat pulled up to the shore. The Doctor along with Yaz and the two competitors stepped off, three of them waiting on the shore for Graham to wake Ryan, while Epzo began walking away, towards the ruins that are supposedly over the sand dunes, and pulling out a cigar as he does.

They were joined by Ryan and Graham and finally began walking after Epzo, hurrying to catch up. 

Of course, not even a minute after they begin walking, Epzo and Angstrom begin arguing with each other. 

"Have you seen yourself, Epzo? I'd say, you love that cigar more than you've loved any person."

He scoffs, "Have you any idea how rare and expensive these are? Takes half a lifetime to make just one. To make them, roll them, age them, and then-this is the best bit-they make them self-lighting. Just one click of the finger, and it lights itself." He finishes, taking a big sniff, and causing the rest of us to grimace. 

"Want a sniff? Closest you'll every get to victory."

"Bad for your health."

"Ha!"

As Epzo finishes laughing they finally come up on the ruins. Which, look exactly what you would think they would look like. No doors, no windows. Just the skeleton of a town that once was, surrounded only by sand for miles. 

"Big set of ruins," says the Doctor. "Wonder who those were built for."

"Why do you even care?" Asks Epzo, who is then ignored.

"Where are those people now? And why are there so few signs of life? What happened to everyone?"

Epzo looks back, almost like he was about to answer until, "Bye. Ha!" And he runs off towards the ruins. The Doctor has a feeling they will be seeing him again later. 

Angstrom shakes her head at him before turning to face them with a, "Good luck!" And turning back towards the ruins and running in.

The first thing the Doctor does is pull out her sonic and scanning the air, looking at the readings.

"Are we just letting them go?" Questions Graham. "We don't know what to do or where to go."

Looking up from her sonic the Doctor answers, "First thing we have to do is make it through those ruins safely. Because these readings are all over the place and I don't know why. Let's go. Yaz, we'll probably need you at some point here, if you're up to it. If not we can figure something else out." She finishes, looking at Yaz to gauge her expression, knowing that it took a lot of energy for her to land the ship. Yaz looks back, eyes flashing a quick purple before returning to brown, knowing she would do whatever necessary.

"I'm up for it."

They share a nod, before heading off towards the ruins, Ryan and Graham in tow. 

As they make it to the top of the hill, they stand within the ruins of an old building, facing out towards the (three) suns in the distance. 

"Those suns are starting to set. They're moving way faster than I realized." Came the Doctor's voice.

"Well, back in the tent, that bloke Ilin said 'do not travel by night'." Graham's voice answered. The Doctor nodded in understanding.

"Right. We need to move. Fast." 

And they all turned around only to come face to face with robots holding space guns.

"Woah!" Comes Ryan's surprised voice, "Where did they come from?"

"I don't know." The Doctor decided that this was the moment to pull out her sonic and scan these robots, up close, while still trying to keep her distance.

"Oh my God, Doctor!" Yells Yaz, surprised at the Doctor's bravery, although she shouldn't be by now. 

Graham scoffs, "So much for no life forms on this planet." Gesturing to the robots.

"They're not alive. They're robot guards. Why would you need robot guards on a deserted planet?"

All good questions, but they mean nothing when the only other people on said planet are humans and people competing to get off said planet. 

"Good news is, they're not fully active. So, what were going to do is slowly, totally unthreateningly, back out of here." She begins backing away slowly, gesturing for us to follow. We walk forward slowly, following the Doctor when, the sound of metal clanking together is heard and, upon looking, seeing the robot guards turning towards them, eyes glowing. 

"They've been activated! Run!"

And, it's out of pure instinct that, when the guns are raised and pointed at them, Yaz's hand raises, aimed straight at the robots, and releases a blast of purple energy, hitting the metal being straight in the chest. Being hit by such a high amount of energy caused the robot to pretty much explode. No robot means no gun, she supposes. 

Her energy blast and the destruction of the robot gave them a bit of extra time to run out of there, the sounds of blasts firing behind them. 

They run up some stairs and along a bridge only to turn a corner and find more robot guards with more guns aimed at them. They all abruptly changed direction and kept running.

"Don't run straight! They can predict your path! Run in zig zags!" Comes the Doctor's slightly breathless advice, causing them all to begin running in weird patterns in hopes of dodging blasts. 

The Doctor finally sees a hole in the wall a ways in front of them, and they all run towards it, crawling inside when they reach it and ending up in some sort of basement area, with columns supporting the concrete roof above them. 

They enter the room, "Well done all of you. Nice running." Some of them breathing harder than others (Graham), and begin walking further into it, each looking around. 

As the Doctor moves forward a cutout of something springs up from the floor.

"Ah!" The Doctor screams in surprise, startling her companions who look towards her with wide eyes. "Okay, come on." She says, gesturing for them to follow, before running deeper into the room. "Oh, what have we got here?" The Doctor stops in front of a destroyed robot, pulling out her sonic and scanning. 

She looks at the readings with wide eyes, "Oh, that's bad."

"What have you got there?" Asks Yaz, knowing she won't be told anything if she doesn't specifically ask.

"Information. They're sniper bots. And we just walked right into the middle of their shooting range. Everything within the perimeter is target practice."

"That would explain all the targets in here," Says Graham in realization, looking at all the cut outs throughout the room. "And, on the negative side..." He turns back to us. "They're human shaped targets. 

As they all look at each other wearily, it seems that Ryan had come to his own decision. "Alright. If that's the way it is, time to stop messing about." He says, stepping forward and grabbing the destroyed sniper bot's gun. 

"What are you doing!?" The Doctor demands.

"Fighting back."

She shakes her head. "No. Guns, never use them."

"They're shooting at us!"

"I know."

"They're going to kill us with their guns!" 

"He's got a point, Doc." Graham cuts in. 

The Doctor looks at Graham, betrayed, before turning back to Ryan, "Put the gun down, Ryan."

"Yaz already destroyed one with her freaky powers! How is this any different?"

Yaz, who had been watching the argument until then, spoke up at that, "Hey, alright. Don't bring me into this. And besides, I destroyed it. The robot can't get back up if there's no robot left. Those guns won't do much more than annoy them." 

"Well what's your better idea, then?" He looks between the two women. 

"We out-think them." 

"Can't out-think bullets, Doc." Says Graham. 

"Been doing it all my life."

Ryan interrupts again, shaking his head. "Uh-uh. Call of Duty, man. I've trained for this." Before running out of the room before anyone could stop him. 

The others watch in fear as Ryan runs out, guns blazing, shooting all of the robots. He hits every one, each falling as he shoots them, and it's almost like he's won. Except, like Yaz said, the guns did almost nothing against the robots, as they stand up almost immediately after being shot, causing Ryan to turn right back around with a yell, and sending him careening right back into the room where he started. He felt the eyes of the others on him and looked up at them sheepishly. The Doctor shook her head.

"Made it worse?"

"Just a little bit, yeah."

"Now do you see why I don't like guns?"

"Don't go on about it!"

"I will go on about it! A lot!" A noise rings over the tail end of her exclamation, like something powering on. They turn and see a sniper bot reading it's gun to shoot them. Yaz saw this and, on instinct, waved her arm, forming a shimmering purple shield in front of them just in time for a blast to hit the shield right where Ryan was standing, and giving them time to, once again, start running from the robots with space guns. The Doctor reached down and grabbed something before sprinting around to hide behind one of the columns, the rest of them following suit, Yaz having dropped her shield. 

"Let this be a lesson! The answer was on the floor, you just reached for the wrong thing!" The Doctor yelled, pulling out the thing the had grabbed before hiding. She wrapped her hand around it before pressing the button at the top of the switch.

Then everything was quiet. 

They moved out from behind the columns cautiously, turning to see the sniper bots on the ground, powered down. Every single one of them. They looked around in wonder. 

"What exactly did you do, Doctor?" Asked Yaz with wide eyes. 

"Electromagnetic pulse. Basically fried their systems. I reckon we've got about five minutes before they reboot and recover." She replies before turning to Ryan. "See? Brains beat bullets." And walking past him, the rest of them scurrying to catch up with her. 

They walk back out into the sunlight and look for the next place they need to go. A moment passes until the come upon an opening into a hallway. 

"Let's try in here." The Doctor tells them before walking through the entryway only to find Epzo and Angstrom leaning against the wall with guns drawn, having gone silent when they heard the voice. Epzo seemed to be injured, favoring his right shoulder where he seems to have gotten blasted by one of the sniper bots. 

He was probably the one to activate the bots in the first place, thinks the Doctor. 

"What just happened?" He asked in an obviously pained voice. 

"What do you care? You don't care about anything." The Doctor replies, snarkily before grabbing the tracker given to Angstrom by Ilin. Gesturing for them all to follow her. And they did. 

Even Epzo.

"How did you do that?" Asks Angstrom in the same wonder Graham, Ryan and Yaz had earlier. 

"Did I not mention? I'm _really_ smart." The Doctor says, not looking up from the tracker in her hands and continuing to walk, apparently knowing where she's going. 

"Thank you." 

"You're very welcome." Is the sincere reply. "It's amazing what you can learn from a sniper bot. Like where their control commands emanate from. Also," She holds up the tracker, "Maps. Which lead us..." They all turn the corner and come upon an entrance to a lower level, "Here."

She unlocks the entrance with a wave of her sonic before walking towards it an, with Angstrom's help, opening the hatch. They all crowd around the opening and look down to find a ladder going down into almost complete darkness. 

The Doctor looks up at all of them. "I want answers to this planet and I think they're down there." She says, gesturing to the opening they were all currently staring down. 

"You sure about that?" Graham asks wearily. 

"Nope! Come on!" She gestures, before climbing into the opening, the rest of the group looking at her like she's crazy. Which, considering what's happening, maybe she is. 

But, of course, they follow her. Because that's what they do. 

Ryan sighs. "Why is it always ladders?" Before climbing down like the rest of them. 

As they all climb down there and look around, the first thing they notice is that it's almost pitch dark down there. They can't see anything. 

"Great. Now what?" Asks Angstrom. "We can't do anything if we can't see."

Yaz steps forward, feeling the eyes of everyone turn to her. 

"Wait. I think if I just-" She raises her right hand in front of her, bring her left slightly above it, before clicking her thumb and middle fingers together. Once, a spark. Twice, a flame. Purple in all it's glory. Her eyes flick up to the others, a smile on her face as she takes in the surprised looks from all of them. Even those who knew previously of her powers. 

"Wow," Says Angstrom, looking in awe at the building flame in Yaz's hand, "Can all humans do that?" 

Yaz laughs. "No. Just me that I know of. I'm special." 

The Doctor looks up at her face with wonder, "That you are, Yasmin Khan." Causing Yaz to blush, before they both snap out of it, the Doctor turning to begin walking to the light of Yaz's flame, continuing.

"Right. These tunnels wrap around half the planet. Think of the technology, the civilization necessary to pull this off. Now ask yourselves; where are they now?."  

"Doctor!" They all turn to see Graham had stopped walking and was staring at a spot on the wall. As they gathered around, the wall brightening next to Yaz's flame and revealing black spots running up it, he spoke again, "Scorch marks." 

The Doctor sighs. "Not exactly encouraging, is it?" 

"As it is, best feet forward." She says before beginning to walk down the tunnel again. 

She walks for a few moments before turning to her left and gasping, startling those behind her and making the light in Yaz burn brighter on instinct.

"Big locked door," The Doctor says, quite anticlimactically, "I love a big locked door."

She raises the sonic and as it buzzes, the door begins unlocking. As soon as the door is opened she begins walking through, Yaz directly behind her for light, and the rest following closely behind. 

As they enter the room, the first thing they noticed is that everything seemed to be completely upturned. The second thing, noticed by Yaz, was that there was another room next door. She glanced back at Ryan.

"We'll take a look?"

The Doctor turned to her. "Wait Yaz. The light." 

"Right." She begins looking around, seeing a jar sitting on the desk next to the door. She grabs it, hoping she's not about to embarrass herself by trying to do something outside her abilities, and carefully places her hand near the opening. Just as she hoped it would, the purple flame currently sitting in her palm slowly slid into the jar, creating a little portable light made from her own magic. 

She handed the jar to the Doctor, who had been watching in confusion, and then awe (she seemed to have that look on her face a lot lately), and then lit another flame using the fingers of her right hand. 

"She could be really useful." Epzo said, looking at the jar of fire currently held in the Doctor's hand. 

"Don't even think about it, Epzo." Replied the Doctor in a hard voice.

"I'm just saying. And besides, I could take her."

Yaz heard that and scoffed. 

"I could destroy you in a second." She said flatly, her eyes flashing purple. 

Epzo held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Alright, alright. Carry on."

Yaz and Ryan split off into the other room, leaving the other four in the original room. Angstrom walked up to the Doctor.

"I don't want to be here. We're off route. We need to move on." She says in obvious fear. The Doctor has none of it.

"You went into the ruins without knowing what was there. You wanna keep going without knowing why it's bad to travel at night?" 

"What ever happened here is in the past," Comes Epzo, sauntering up to the right of Angstrom. "What's it matter to you?"

"This was a living breathing planet once. With an ecosystem, organic life, and a population. There was a catastrophic event here. And as hard as it is for you to hear, you are not the only life form in this universe. Some of us feel a duty to others who might be in trouble." The Doctor was on a roll. And she wasn't done. 

"So dress your wound, take one of your heroic naps, and we'll wake you when we leave, if you're lucky."

"Fine." He says, walking off to most likely do exactly what she just suggested. 

As he does that, the Doctor turns back to the matter at hand, pulling out her sonic and scanning an indention in the wall where there appears to be screens on the top and bottom of it. 

"Ah ha! That's more like it. Angstrom, bring me that route-mappy thing!" She grabs said thing from said person, swapping this for the jar of fire she was holding, before turning back towards the screen, bringing up a hologram map of the tunnels. "This shows the whole network of tunnels. Your friend Ilin warned us not to travel at night. With this we could use the tunnels to keep moving while it's dark. Avoiding whatever's on the surface."

"It's better than that, though. Look," Angstrom gestures to a part of the hologram. "It shows the site of the ghost monument. This network could help us cut a diagonal through the route, and bypass most of the mountain terrain. We can cover the distance in half the time."

"Well," Graham starts. "If you leave now, you can get there before sleeping beauty." He gestures to where Epzo seems to have gone. "You could win."

As Angstrom was probably about to leave to do just that, there was a loud bang that came from their right. There seemed to be a hole in the wall leading into another room. 

"What was that?"

"There's something through there." The Doctor says, turning to go into the other room. 

As they walk through the first thing they noticed was a pattern on the floor. A pattern of different sizes and shapes. Circles, points. Even parts that looked like thorns coming off a vine. 

"Inscriptions."

"What, are they some sort of cave paintings?"

"Almost. Left by the people who worked here."

"Can you read it? What's it say?"

The Doctor begins walking around the pattern, appearing to read it. She speaks out out,

"'We are scientists. Abducted, tortured, and made to work, while our families are held hostage. We are forced to find new ways of destruction. Poisons, weapons, creatures. We gave them our minds, and the made us the creators of death. This planet is left scorched and barren from out work. The atmosphere and water are toxic. Killing machines and creatures inhabit every corner. We have no choice but to obey...'" 

_No. Why?_

"'...The Stenza.'" 

"'We are trying to destroy all our work, before they use it against others...'" She looks up. "There's two words below that." Looks back down.

"'They're coming'"

"That's how it ends."

Graham steps forwards, obviously shocked.

"The Stenza... That's the thing we stopped in Sheffield, right? The thing that killed Grace?"

Angstrom looked between them. 

"You know the Stenza too?"

"My wife died because of them."

The woman's face turned to one of complete sympathy and understanding. 

"Mine too." She says, voice shaking. "I'm sorry."

"They took our planet. Sent us into hiding, cleansed millions of us." 

Just as she finished saying that, a yell rang out. 

"That's Epzo."

They run to where he was sleeping to find him wrapped up in some sort of cloth. It was wrapped around his head, covering his mouth and cutting off his airway.

"Epzo!"

His muffled screams were the only reply they got. 

"Oh my God!"

The Doctor pulls out her sonic to try and get the creatures to unravel, to no avail. It didn't work. 

"The sonic isn't working on it!"

Angstrom hands the fire jar to Graham, pulls a knife from the holder at her waist, and uses it to cut at the cloth. She cuts the piece covering his mouth and it finally released him, unable to hold on. Once freed and able to breathe, Epzo sat up immediately in a panic, breathing hard. 

"Doc," Graham starts. "I've seen them before. All over the place, like they were lying dormant."

Realization washes over her face. "Lying dormant til night. Across the whole planet. Clearing out the wounded."  _Oh no._

Her thoughts don't get much further than that before she's being slammed into with another body. Yaz. Yaz, and Ryan running up behind her, both of them out of breath. Yaz still holding her purple flame in the palm of her hand. 

"Doctor, I found you! The sniper bots are on their way down after us!" Yaz turns to see the pieces of cloth now flowing around the room.  _What?_

"We need to get out of here! Everybody move fast!" They all begin running down the tunnels again. The only lighting being the flame in Yaz's hand, and the flame in the jar currently being held by Graham. 

They run for a few minutes, the sound of their footsteps ringing in their ears. When they stop, they're all breathing hard. "Why did we stop?" Asks Graham, even as he's leaned over trying to catch his breath. 

The Doctor listens for something, as do the rest of them. There's the sound of something powering off. Something they didn't even realize was there. 

"They powered down the life support systems. They're depriving us of air. We have to get out of here."

"It's night!" Graham says, incredulously. 

Angstrom looks down at her tracker before looking back up. "This exit ladder will take us up to the surface."

"What's up there?" Asks Yaz, looking up to see where the ladder leads.

"Acetylene fields." 

"Acetylene?" Asks Ryan. "Like the gas?"

The Doctor cuts in, "That doesn't sound good, but we're running out of air and options. Let's go up."

Graham goes up the ladder first, setting the jar down on the ground, with Ryan close behind after being nudged by the Doctor and told to think of acetylene facts on the way up as a distraction. The rest follow soon after, Yaz extinguishing the flames in both her hand and the jar. They won't be needing them now. 

The second they make it to the top, they're swarmed with the cloth creatures. Them whispering things they have to strain to hear. 

"Nobody move."

"Don't let them touch you. They'll squeeze the life out of you." 

"Yes," Came the first coherent sentence from the ribbons, although terrifying, "Squeeze the life out of you."

"The talk is designed to distract you. It's how they were designed in that laboratory." The Doctor was telling her group and herself in hopes of keeping them out of their heads. 

"You can't save them. We smell your fears, too. The strongest of them all."

The Doctor scoffs.

"You want fears? I've got a dozen lifetimes worth."

That seems to have caught their attention. "A dozen lives? We'll take you first."

The woman looks around at her group before landing on Ryan. "Remember any facts Ryan? As we climbed?"

Obviously thinking hard, digging through the facts he's learned from his classes, he answers. "It's lighter than air."

"Correct. Smells like garlic, and lighter than air, and one other thing. But we'll all have to  _dig deep_ for that." She says the last part with emphasis, looking them all in the eyes, hoping they'll get it, see her begin digging into the sand at her feet. Almost all of them do. Almost.

"What are you talking about? What are you doing?"

"Shut up and dig, Epzo!" Comes Angstrom's exasperated voice, finally coaxing him into digging as well. 

One of the ribbons floats up in front of the Doctor's face, hoping to distract her.

"You lead, but you're scared, too. For yourself and for others."

"Yeah, well. Who isn't?"

The ribbon continues. 

"Afraid of your own newness. We see deeper though. Further back..."

"The Timeless Child."

The Doctor stops digging. 

"What did you just say?"

"She doesn't know!" The ribbon sounds amused.

"What are you talking about? What can you see?"

"We see what's hidden. Even from yourself. The outcast. Abandoned and unknown."

She steps back, surprised, before gathering herself and snapping. 

"Get out of my head." They continue.

"Now we crush those fears from you." The ribbon says, surrounding the Doctor but not quite touching her.

"Enjoy your feast. Whatever it is. Because, you know what some people like after a feast?" She turns to Graham.

"Graham!"

"Huh?" The Doctor rolls her eyes.

"Not me. Some people." Her eyes trailing to one person in particular. Realization dawns on Graham's face and he reaches into the pocket of the man next to him, pulling out a cigar. 

"Oh yeah. A nice cigar," he finishes, throwing it into the air high above their heads. 

"Down!" The Doctor yells, sending all of them diving to the ground. Some on their stomachs, others on their backs. She reaches up with her right hand and clicks her thumb and middle fingers together. 

The air went up in flame, burning the ribbons with a weird screech.

"Third fact. Ignites, very easily. Good old acetylene. See?" She says, looking towards Epzo. "Teamwork. Now move. Come on."

The group chuckles in relief before carefully crawling out from under the flames. 

 

As they reached the end of the acetylene fields the suns were finally beginning to rise, illuminating the rocks they were climbing at the tail end of their journey to the ghost monument. 

"We must be near the end now," Says Ryan, out of breath from all the climbing.

"Says we're close," replies Angstrom, significantly less out of breath. 

As she says this they come upon a tent not unlike the one from the beginning of the journey. 

"There, your finish line."

"Ah, we made it." Says Epzo in obvious relief. 

Yaz looks around. "Where's your ship? Where's the ghost monument?"

The Doctor's face falls. "It's not here." She walks up to where it should be. "I don't understand. It should be here. We did all this for nothing."

Angstrom walks past her. "At least you got here." She turns around, looks at the Doctor with sympathy. An apology.

"And now, I'm going to claim my prize."

"What?" Epzo looks at her. "Your prize?"

"I saved your life. You'd be dead without me. And, if I raced you now to that tent, you'd be dust. You're a wreck, Epzo!" She says, gesturing to his injury. 

He looked to the Doctor quickly. like she was the one deciding the winner. "Who had the cigar? That's right.  _Me._ It was mine. The cigar saved us all."

Angstrom looks at him before laughing exasperatedly. "Seriously!? Don't even think I'm going to lose to you now."

The Doctor cuts in. "Eh, can I make a suggestion?"

They turn to look at her expectantly.

"Why don't you both walk in there at the same time. Force him to split the price. It's more than enough for both of you and your families to live comfortably." 

"That'll never work. He would never let that happen."

She smiles. "I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be. And annoying."

The two competitors scoff before looking at each other. They nod once. 

"Let's do it." 

 

* * *

 

"No!" Yells the Doctor as the tent disappears from around them, leaving the four of them on their own. 

They look around in shock before Ryan speaks up, stating the obvious. "They're gone."

Eyes turn to the Doctor, who has a look none of them have ever seen on her face. A look that spoke of someone giving up. 

"We're stuck here, are we?" Asks Graham, already knowing the answer.

She begins nodding, unable to look him in the eye and tell him she failed them.

"I'm sorry. I failed you."

She looked up at Yaz for a second before turning her eyes to the ground again. "I promised you, and I let you down." 

In a rare show of optimism, Ryan spoke up.

"We can wait. Can't we?" He asks, looking towards Yaz, hoping she'll back him up. She does.

"Yeah! We've got each other."

"No, we'll be dead within one rotation." Well. So much for optimism.

"Who says so? We've come this far, haven't we?" Says Graham. "Who says we've given up? Any of us, really? Even you, Doc? Ah, come on. We ain't havin' it, are we?" He finishes, turning to the other two humans.

"Nope."

"Mm-mm"

As soon as their declarations are made a low humming sound rumbles around them, causing them to look around in confusion.

"Can you hear that noise?" Yaz asks. The others nod, while the Doctor turns to the direction of the noise, apparently knowing the sound. She runs to the edge of the rock and pulls out her sonic, aiming it at seemingly nothing, trying to coax something out with words of encouragement. 

It apparently works, because next thing they know, there is a bright blue police box on the edge of the cliff where there wasn't one before. 

The Doctor gasps. "Oh! My beautiful ghost monument." She whispers, running towards the blue box. 

She appears to share a few words with it before the door seemingly opens by itself. She turns to us. "Are you coming?"

"In there?"

"Are we even going to fit?"

She looks inside for a moment before looking back towards them. "Wanna try?"

Figuring they have nothing to lose the group walks towards the box cautiously, before following the Doctor where she had walked through the doors and, immediately, jaws dropped and eyes widened. Even that and those of the woman who apparently owns the ship.

"Woah... You've redecorated." She smiles wide.

"I really like it."

Turning back to the three humans currently walking around with looks of awe on their face, she begins talking.

"This is my TARDIS."

"Wow." Comes Yaz's articulate reply.

"Yeah." Ryan's equally articulate reply.

"It was a police box." Graham's much more articulate reply.

"It still is, on the outside."

"How... Did you fit all this stuff... Inside a police box?"

"Dimensional engineering."

"You can't engineer dimensions." 

"Maybe  _you_ can't."

Ryan steps up and begins reaching out. "Can I touch-"

"No!" The Doctor steps between him and the center console, holding her finger out like she was scolding a child.

"This is a space ship?" Graham brings the conversation back to the matter at hand. The Doctor nods.

"And a time ship." 

Ryan's eyes widen. "Get out!"

"Seriously!"

"This. Is proper. Awesome."

"I thought maybe you didn't believe me that I'd get you home." The Doctor says to them.

"I thought you didn't believe yourself for a second back there." Replies Yaz.

"Who me? No... Never doubted. What do you mean?" She brushes off before turning back to her console.

"Alright. Home, then?"

"You can get us there? Really?"

"Start believing." The last thing she says before spinning the hour glass in front of her and pulling levers and hitting controls. As she does this the ship gives a jolt, almost knocking it's occupants over, before dematerializing and sending the ship hurtling in the time vortex. 

They could finally go home.

 

 


	6. Rosa (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> S11E3: Rosa 
> 
> Part 1

It was their fourteenth attempt at finally landing the TARDIS back in Sheffield and Yaz's hopes aren't very high.  _I mean, honestly._ She thinks.  _Can the Doctor control this thing at all?_

They were all standing around the console after a particularly bumpy landing, each of them holding on to something in the hopes of staying on their feet. They learned that the hard way through skinned knees and bruised hips after falling to the hard floor of the TARDIS. 

They're still holding on, when the Doctor begins walking towards the TARDIS doors, opening them before her human companions could. The three look between each other, not quite hoping that this would be their final destination and knowing that they were right to be skeptical when they hear the Doctor's slightly muffled voice from where she's looking outside. "Eh. Nearly!"

Yaz sighs, "So, not Sheffield then?" 

"Almost!" The Doctor says, sheepishly. "Really close!"

She walks over to the console and says to what looks like nobody. "You're doing this deliberately, aren't you?"

The three companions look at each other confused before Yaz asks, "Who are you talking to?"

"If it's me I haven't touched anything." Says Ryan, knowing he has a problem with restraint when it comes to touching things he shouldn't. 

"I'm talking to the TARDIS." The Doctor says irritably, glaring at the console. "Because this is our  _ninth_ attempt." 

Graham scoffs. "Fourteenth. You can't control this thing, can you?" 

"Excuse me." She says, offended. "Yes, I can. Most of the time. Just, sometimes, like now, it has a mind of its own." 

They all sigh. "So, where are we? Actually." Asks Yaz.

"Earth. United States." The Doctor turns to a screen on the console. "1955. Montgomery, Alabama." 

"1955!?" Exclaims Graham. "Elvis! Could we see Elvis?" 

"I think he's in New York this week." She shrugs. "I could give him a call."

Graham looks at her in disbelief. "You haven't got Elvis' phone number." 

"Don't ever tell anyone I lent him a mobile phone." She says, seriously.

Just as she finishes speaking an alarm breaks through the air, almost like an alarm clock would when it's time for you to get up. Only, it's the afternoon, and none of them are sleeping. The Doctor runs over to see what set the alarm off. Her slight panic shifts to a look of confusion. "Oh. What's that?" She says to herself. "Traces of artron energy?"

"Should we know what artron energy is?" Asks Yaz, confused. 

"It's the same time of energy the TARDIS runs off of." She explains. "Only, there shouldn't be any here. Unless they're ours, which they're not." 

Yaz sighs, knowing where this is going. "And now you want to check it out?" 

"Yeah. I should. Quick look. But quietly. History is very delicate." She says, heading towards the doors. 

The other three look at each other before shrugging and following the strange alien outside. They walk for a few moments with the Doctor scanning the air with her sonic every few minutes and looking at the readings, apparently having not found anything yet. The companions look around in awe, excitement clear on their faces. 

"Real life 1950's." Says Yaz, not quite believing what she is seeing. "Time travel's awesome." 

She finishes at the same time a woman and her husband drop a glove while walking past Ryan. He stops and grabs it, trying to get the woman's attention to return the glove to her. He taps on the woman's shoulder, getting her attention as well as the attention of the man walking next to her. Next thing they all knew, there was a loud smack that left Ryan holding his cheek in surprise where the man had slapped him. "Get your filthy black hands off my wife!" The man yells. Ryan was visibly upset at the words and was obviously about to go after the man, when Graham runs up and grabs him to stop his advancement. 

The Doctor runs back from where she and Yaz had been a ways in front of the other two and helps Graham hold Ryan back. "Woah! Stop!"

Yaz runs up and stands between the man and the rest of her friends, her instinct to protect them taking over. She looked him in the eyes, working to keep them from glowing, and said, in a commanding tone her friends had no idea she possessed. "Sir, please. Take a step back." 

She seems to surprise the man for a moment, because he calms down slightly at her words and, to the surprise of the other three, takes a small step back before remembering himself, his look of anger returning.

"I was just trying to give her back her glove." Ryan says, angry, throwing the glove on the ground between the two groups.

The man looks to Graham. "This your boy?"

"He my grandson." He answers, almost challengingly.

"He's your what?"

"My grandson."

The man looks at the rest of them, eyes lingering a little longer on Yaz before turning to the Doctor. "You ain't from around here." He states with his country drawl.

"We don't want any trouble."

"Look, I don't know how it goes where you folks are from, but your boy, he'll be swingin' from a tree with a noose for a neckerchief if he touches a white woman in Montgomery."

Ryan tries to get out of Graham's grasp again. "What did you-" He's cut off by a woman pushing them all out of the way to stand between them and the man.

"Is there a problem here, Mr. Still?" She says, politely before turning to the group of four. "Step away now. Go ahead. Step away." They all take a few steps back, surprised at this woman helping them. 

She turns back to the man and he speaks. "These friends of yours?"

"No, sir. Just on my lunch break wondering if I can help out with any misunderstanding." She says the last part looking back at the group before facing forward again. "I believe your suit will be ready tomorrow. The alterations are going to make it look just right, sir."

He nods, simmering down slightly and just glaring at the four standing behind the woman who saved them. "Let's go, Lizzie." He says, offering his arm to his wife who had been quiet the whole time. They both turn and begin walking away, the mysterious woman watching them go before turning to them.

"Are you crazy?"

"He slapped me!" Ryan says, from where he'd finally been released from Graham's hold.

"Didn't your read the newspapers?" She asks. "You know what they did to young Emmett Till."

The Doctor steps in. "We're from out of town."

The woman turns to her.

"So was Emmett Till."

"On vacation. A couple of words to a white woman in Mississippi..." She pauses before continuing. "And the next thing, they find his body in the river." She turns back to Ryan.

"You want that to be you?"

He sighs. "No, ma'am."

She turns to look at all of them. "You all together?"

"Yes." The Doctor says. "We're very grateful, miss...?"

"Mrs." She starts. "Parks. Rosa Parks."

Their eyes widen simultaneously, with exclamations of surprise from all of them.

"No way!" Yaz says.

"You're kidding." That was Graham.

"Brilliant!" Yells the Doctor, not of them quite realizing they might be seeming a little strange to the woman. _Rosa. Rosa Parks._ "Rosa Parks! Lovely to meet you! Big fan!"

It takes the extremely confused look from the woman for her to begin trying to save herself. "... of Montgomery." She says, lamely. "We are... just visiting. Recommend anything for tourists like us?" She finishes, knowing it was a pretty weak attempt at saving them.

Rosa appears to just move past it, probably just thinking their crazy, and not time travelers from 60 years in the future. "I recommend you get yourself the hell out of Alabama before you find yourselves in trouble you can't get out of." She turns and walks away from them.

The Doctor and Yaz step forward, Yaz speaking while the Doctor scans the air where Rosa had just occupied. "Oh my, God. Can you believe it? Actual Rosa Parks!"

"Amazing." The Doctor says, reading whatever the sonic picked up. "Also, a problem. Registering traces of artron energy all around her. Why is that?"

She looks back at them, contemplating, when Graham speaks up. "...So, while we're thinking, do you think we could find somewhere to eat?"

 

* * *

 

They're sitting at the bar, waiting to be served and talking about everything that was going on, the Doctor looking at a newspaper, when Yaz remembers something. "We were in Rosa Parks' class in primary." She says, gesturing to Ryan. "Do you remember? All the year four, five, and six classes were named after inspirational people."

"She was the bus woman, right?" Asks Ryan.

Yaz's eyes narrow as she looks at him. "You do remember what she did, right?"

"Yeah. First black woman to ever drive a bus." He says confidently.

"No, Ryan!" Yaz says, slightly disappointed. "What?" He questions, confused. 

She's joined by Graham. "Your nan would have a fit right now! How could you have been in a class named after the woman and not know who she is?"

"She's American!" He says, attempting to explain. Graham scoffs, disappointed. 

Yaz sighs. "She refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger and got arrested for it." She explains. "Her arrest started a boycott of the buses in Montgomery"

The Doctor cuts in. "Or rather, will start." 

"Today is Wednesday, November 30th, 1955. Tomorrow, Rosa refuses to give up her seat."

Ryan speaks again, hoping to prove himself to Yaz and Graham. "All this kicked off the civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King." He says the last part at Yaz. 

"See, I'm not totally ignorant. I just got confused with the whole bus thing." Yaz rolls her eyes at him. 

"Martin Luther King is a minister here in Montgomery right now!" The Doctor says, starting to put pieces together. 

"He and Rosa knew each other?" Asks Yaz.

"Yeah."

They were cut off by Graham who had been looking around in suspicion. "Is it me, or has it gone very quiet in here?"

This causes the rest of them to begin looking around, realizing he was right. They are shortly joined by a waitress, who tells them, while looking at Ryan, "We don't serve negroes." 

The rest of them look around to see that everyone was staring at them. Some with smug looks. _Racists._ Ryan looks back with a flat expression, before answering. "Good." He starts. "Because I don't eat them." 

The waitress' eyes narrow slightly, before she turns to Yaz as well. "Or Mexicans."

Yaz makes eye contact with the Doctor, her eyes glowing a dim purple out of anger, not quite enough to be noticeable to anyone but the Doctor and her, being able to feel it. "Is she talking to me?" The look the Doctor is giving her tells her to calm down, the purple fading out of her eyes before they get bright enough to be noticeable. She doesn't need that kind of attention right now. 

"You all need to eat somewhere else." The woman continues in the otherwise deafening silence. 

The Doctor looks at her friends before gesturing towards the door with her head. "Come on." She says, getting up, the rest of them following. 

As the exit the bar the Doctor turns to face them. "Okay, listen. I can deal with this. You three go back to the TARDIS and be safe."

"While you do what?" Asks Yaz, not wanting to leave the Doctor.

"Locate the source of these energy anomalies. We're one day out of a tipping point in Earth history and I don't want anything disrupting that." She stops and looks at them. "It's easy for me here. It's more dangerous for you. You can walk away from this."

Ryan shakes his head. "Rosa Parks can't."

"Rosa Parks doesn't." Continues Yaz before Ryan cuts in again.

"If she can live here her whole life a few hours ain't gonna kill me." He looks around. "It ain't gonna kill me, right?"

"Not if we look out for each other."

"I'm cool with it." He looks to Yaz. "What do you reckon, Mexican lady?"

"Oi. Keep that up, and I'll use you as a piñata." She says, looking towards him and letting her eyes flash a quick purple before returning to brown.

"Epicenter of the artron region is 1.2 miles that way." The Doctor cuts in, pointing in front of them. 

"Hey hey!" Graham says, getting the Doctor's attention. "We will stop somewhere else to eat though, won't we?" He asks.

"No time, Graham!" She says before walking across the street. Graham turns to the other two, "Have you noticed that happens a lot?" They chuckle and start walking to catch up to the Doctor. "I need regular food, that's all."

"We just got thrown out of a bar and that's what you're worried about?" 

"Well not just that!"

Yaz laughs. "Not sure you're compatible with time travel, mate."  She says, as they walk down the street behind the Doctor.

They don't noticed the police car pulling to a stop across the street. 

 

__

* * *

 

"This is where the artron signals converge." The Doctor says, looking at the building in front of them. 

"The bus company?" Asks Yaz in confusion. "All roads lead to Rosa Parks."

"Yeah. Bit of a worry. Let's have a look around." 

Graham cuts in wearily. "I'm not sure about this." 

The come up to a locked door. The door had not just one padlock, but five keeping people from entering. But of course, the Doctor waved her sonic and unlocked it. The walk inside and see what appears to be an empty room. 

"There's nothing in here." Says Ryan.

"Why padlock an empty room?" Asks Yaz.

"Unless it's not empty." The Doctor says while scanning the room before pointing the sonic to the empty space on the floor a ways in front of them. Then, out of nowhere, a suitcase appeared. 

"That wasn't there a second ago." Graham says unnecessarily. 

"No kidding." 

"It was there." The Doctor cuts in. "We just couldn't see it." 

They all walk towards it cautiously. After all, it did just appear out of nowhere, and they haven't had the best luck with things that show up out of nowhere. 

"Perception filter."

"Why would anybody do that to a suitcase?" Yaz asks the Doctor, who doesn't answer, apparently not knowing.

They stare at the case for a few moments before Ryan asks, "Can we open it?"

"...Is the right question!" The Doctor exclaims before kneeling in front of it.

"You won't be if it's a bomb." Graham states callously.

"Don't kill the vibe, Graham!" She replies with irritation clear in her voice before opening the case anyway, revealing a line of gadgets.

"Woah." Ryan says. "Not very fifties."

"I knew it." The Doctor says, obviously knowing something the three humans didn't, to the surprise of absolutely no one. She continues, "See, now there's a problem. We're not the only ones in Montgomery who don't belong here."

Yaz's curiosity finally got the better of her. "Any clues as to what any of that is?" She asks, gesturing to the gadgets in the case in front of the Doctor. The woman begins picking up each one and naming them off. "Information brick... Multi-interceptance surveillance device. All a bit knackered, though."

"Well, why's it been left in here?" Says Graham, who is ignored in favor of the gasp the Doctor releases and the tube she had just pulled out of the case. 

"This explains the artron signals. This is very bad news. A secondary charger for a-" She's cut off by the sound of a blast and the chair to the left of them disappears out of thin air.

"Run!" She yells, and the rest of them follow, not needing to be told twice after the ladder on the other side of them also disappears after being blasted. Lucky for them, the man shooting at them is a lousy shot, and they are all able to escape the building. They all run outside and, and the Doctor's request, hide behind one of the gas barrels in a fenced in area next to the bus depot. 

They hear the sound of boots hitting metal, and they assume the man who tried to shoot them is standing on top of one of the metal containers. The Doctor turns to the three humans. "Stay here." She says before turning to climb on a barrel opposite to the man. Yaz and the other two carefully peek over the sides of the barrel they're currently hiding behind, catching a glimpse of the guy who, as soon as the Doctor speaks, turns his back to them. 

"Oi, Rando, looking for us?" The Doctor starts. "I'm not armed."

"Is that supposed to make me not shoot you?" 

"Ideally." She says. "So... Temporal displacement weapon. Horrible things, can't stand them."

"Thank you."

"Not a compliment." She says before speaking again. "Takes a lot of power to displace things in time, and I think you and I both know that your weapon is pretty much out of juice. And I've got your spare battery."

"Leaving traces of residual artron energy all over 1955." 

"Yeah, and what are you, the artron police? Maybe you are." He says, chuckling at his own joke.  _Git_ , thinks Yaz, before tuning back in to the conversation where he's still speaking. "Blue box in the alley. Is it a TARDIS?" 

Yaz sees the Doctor's eyes narrow. "Might be. What's it to you?"

"Well, it could be worth quite a lot."

The Doctor's face scrunches. "Nah. Not that one. Second hand. Huge mileage. One careless owner."

"Mind you, it's better than a vortex manipulator, like the one on your wrist. Cheap and nasty time travel."

He looks down at his wrist in irritation before hiding the gadget back under his sleeve, as though that will erase it from the Doctor's memory.

"So, what do you want with Rosa Parks?" 

"Who?" The man asks, playing dumb.

"Ugh." The Doctor groans. "Now you're being annoying."

"The feeling's mutual."

"How long have you been here?" 

He ignores her. "Get out of Montgomery."

The Doctor scoffs. "You're not the first to say that to us."

"If I see any of you again, I will kill you." 

The Doctor's look of irritation fades to one of anger. "Don't threaten me." She says, before turning around and stepping down off the barrel, walking towards where her friends were still hiding only to hear the man's voice again. 

"Chop, chop. On your way, now."

She turned quickly and scanned him with her sonic before turning to walk back towards them. "Let's go." She tells them, looking at the sonic readings with a look of confusion. They didn't need to be told twice.

They fall into step next to her. "We're not actually leaving, are we?" Asks Yaz.

"Not in a million years." 

 

* * *

 

 They come up on a motel which is where they're going to stay for the night. Only, as they look up at the sign for the motel, it reads 'WHITES ONLY'. Leaving them to wonder what they were going to do for that night.

"Gettin' pretty sick of seeing that sign." Says Ryan, and Yaz can't help but agree with him. 

Yaz sighs. "So, how are we going to do this." 

The Doctor turns to them. "I have an idea. But you're not going to like it." 

Apparently, that idea was for her and Graham to get a room, and then have Ryan and Yaz crawl through the bathroom window. Yaz couldn't remember the last time she had to deal with such a lack of dignity. 

She is pulled through the window by Graham and turns around to help him pull Ryan through as well. "In you come before anyone sees." Graham says to him. 

"Well this is fun." Ryan says sarcastically. 

Yaz scoffs. "Last time I sneaked into someone's window was Danny Biswas in year ten." She says. 

"You're just running right down to my estimation." He replies with an edge to his voice.

"Alright." She says, confused at his reaction. 

"Danny Biswas? He was punching well above his weight."

"Wait." She starts, a smirk growing on her face. "Did you just accidentally pay me a compliment?"

Ryan goes silent, apparently realizing the same thing, before turning and exiting the bathroom with a quick, "whatever!"

She laughs quietly, before following him out to join the rest of them. 

Graham is sat on one bed with the Doctor standing in front of him, Ryan joining him on the bed next to his. Yaz goes to lean against the TV stand at the front of the room when Graham asks the question they'd all been wondering. 

"Why couldn't we just stay at the TARDIS."

"Our friend with a temporal displacement weapon has got eyes on it. We go in and out of there, we're going to run into him again, and I don't want to just yet. Not 'til we figure this out." 

"And this is better?" Ryan starts. "Smuggling ourselves into crummy motels?" Yaz couldn't help but agree. It was demeaning. 

"Just give me a moment to work this out."

Yaz sighs, deciding to do what she has to in order to make this work. "Yeah. Like what do we actually know?" She asks, as a way to start investigating, her police instincts coming through. 

"Well," Graham starts. "Montgomery, Alabama. 1955. One day away from Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up on a bus."

"Meanwhile," the Doctor cuts in. "We've got an out of time imposter skulking around the bus works with a temporal displacement weapon." 

Ryan speaks up after sharing a confused look with Graham. "I understand weapon but I'm not sure about temporal displacement?"

"Displaces you through time. A blast hits you, and you're thrown through time to whenever the user has set it. He had it set for the very far future." 

"That's horrible." 

"Yes. And it uses artron molecules. That, plus his vortex manipulator were presumably what the TARDIS detected when it brought us here."

"So, do we think he's trying to kill Rosa Parks?" Yaz asks. "Or use that weapon on her?"

The Doctor shakes her head. "He's been here a while. Set up base at the busworks. If he wanted to get rid of her why has he not done it already?"

"Besides, the sonic picked up something else on him but I need to go back to make sure." 

"Right!" She says, jumping on the bed with a pen in her hand, starting to write on the walls, starting with the name 'Rosa Parks' and the date December 1st, 1955, when everything goes down. "What do you remember about Rosa from school?" She asks the others. 

"Hey, woah!" Yells Graham in surprise. "That's vandalism we're going to have to pay for that!" 

"Don't worry, special pen." She replies, earning looks of incredulity from the others before they shrug and answer her questions. "What time of day?"

Yaz goes first. 

"Evening. She was coming home from work." She says, and the Doctor begins writing. "I remember because people thought she didn't stand because she was tired from working all day but she wasn't."

"Right. Where did she work?"

Yaz wracked her brain. "I think it was in a shop, like a department store." 

Graham cuts in. "No, no, wait. Earlier, she told that git that slapped Ryan, that his suit would be ready tomorrow."

Her face lit up in remembrance. "That's right, she did clothes repairs. She was a seamstress!"

Just as she finished speaking they were all startled by a loud knock at the door. Yaz turned to Ryan and said urgently, "Bathroom."

"Seriously?"

There was another knock. "Very seriously."

They Doctor waits until they are behind the bathroom door before she starts heading to the front door to open it, she almost reaches it before Graham catches her attention. "Wait, Doc! The wall!" He says, gesturing to the words she had written.

She got up on the bed again and scanned the wall with her sonic, the words disappearing as she did it, before she walked towards the door, turning to Graham with a, "Banksy didn't have one of those! Or have I?"

Before he could answer she was opening to the door to come face to face with a man dressed in an officers uniform.

"Oh." She starts. "Officer. What can I do for you?"

"Can I come in, ma'am?" The officer says, not really waiting for an answer and walking in as he speaks. The Doctor quickly turns to stand in front of the bathroom in a hopefully inconspicuous manner. 

"Look, darling." She says to Graham, who had sat down on the bed, deciding to go with the façade that they're married. "This police officer was so keen to come him he didn't feel the need to introduce himself." 

"Is there a problem, Officer...?" 

"Mason." The man says, continuing to look around the room. "Montgomery police."

The Doctor continues standing in front of the door, closing it where there had been a small opening before. 

"Very poor refreshment facilities, I'll be leaving a note," she says.

"British?" The officer says unnecessarily. 

"Heh." Graham chuckles. "What gave it away?"

He ignores him, speaking to the Doctor again. "You've been making folks uneasy."

"Have we done that?"

"You don't happen to know a couple of mongrels? Negro boy... Mexican girl?" The officer finishes, turning and spitting on the floor. The Doctor's expression changes in a way that it almost looks like she's challenging him. 

"I don't recognize anyone by that description." 

"Hmm." He says, obviously not believing her. "See, the negro's been going around pickin' fights with upstanding citizens. Now, uh, you appreciate it's an offence to harbor colored's in a room here." He finishes, moving closer to tower over the Doctor. She meets his eyes, not even slightly scared. She'd dealt with things much scarier than this racist excuse of a man.

"We're not harboring anyone who doesn't have a right to be here." She says.

"Mmhm." The officer gestures for her to move away from the bathroom door. She does, but before he opens it he asks, "What's your business here in Montgomery?"

Seeing an opportunity to stall, Graham gets up from the bed and tells him, "We're here to pitch an, um, invention. Yeah. It's uh, a telephone... that plays music... and it's a camera, also. Takes photos... And it's a calendar..." He stutters over an explanation. "...and sends letters." 

The officer's eyebrows raise. "Sounds ridiculous." 

"Yeah." Graham chuckles.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Steve..." He blurts out, looking towards the Doctor, who nods at him to continue. "...Jobs. Steve Jobs." He finishes with a weak smile, which disappears as soon as the officer begins walking towards him. 

"You being disrespectful with me, Mr. Jobs?"

"Steve Jobs would never disrespect a Montgomery police officer, sir." 

He nods in agreement, before turning towards the bathroom and finally opening the door. Only to see an empty bathroom with an open window. Noticing the window, he goes over and leans out, looking left and right to make sure nobody was there. Only seeing a dumpster in the alleyway, he turns back to them, seemingly satisfied with what he had seen, and begins walking back towards the front door to leave. 

"You get yourselves gone as soon as your... business is concluded." He finishes, finally opening the door and leaving them alone. 

As soon as the door shut the Doctor turned to Graham with a look of disgust on her face. "I did not warm to him." 

"Me neither." He starts. "I'm honestly so ashamed. Even though it's not me doing this, it's still people like me. Targeting people because of their skin color. It's disgusting."

The Doctor nods in agreement and sympathy, placing a hand on Graham's shoulder as a way to comfort him. "I know. But, the best we can do right now is make sure everything goes the way it's supposed to. That Rosa Parks changes things for everyone."

Graham looks at her with a small smile and nods. "You're right. I'll go get Yaz and Ryan. Hopefully they didn't go far." He says, walking into the bathroom and leaning out the window. "Ryan! Yaz!" He whispers. He doesn't see anyone for a movement, but then he looks to his left and sees Ryan and Yaz stand up from where they were sitting out of sight of the window, behind the dumpster. They quickly jump back in through the window and join the Doctor in the motel room, resuming their previous positions before the officer had shown up. 

The Doctor is back in her spot on top of the bed and quickly scans the wall to bring back what she had written earlier. "Where were we?" She starts. "We need as much intel as we can get. If we're gonna protect Rosa we need to know the facts of her life. Home address, daily routine, where she works, the route she takes, and the church she attends. Also, the name of the driver she refused." She lists off. 

"I know that." Graham cuts in. "It's James Blake."

"How'd you know that?" Asks Ryan in surprise. 

"Well, your nan, when she found out I was a bus driver, said to me, 'you better not be like James Blake'. Blake the Snake she called him. I had to ask her who he was and she just said he gave all bus drivers a bad name."

Yaz looks at him incredulously. "She said that when you'd only just met?" 

"Yeah." Graham chuckled.

"That's pretty hardline." 

"That's me nan." Ryan says fondly.

"Yeah. She had a t-shirt that said 'The spirit of Rosa'. And, uh, well, I wish that she was here." Graham says in obvious remembrance. There's a moment of silence before Ryan breaks it to try and lighten the somber mood.

"I don't. She'd start a riot." He says, causing the rest of them to chuckle before getting back to the task at hand. 

"Right." The Doctor begins. "Operation Rosa Parks. Ryan, you go find the different bus routes and bring them back here. Yaz, you go through the phone books and newspapers and try to figure out where Rosa works and lives. And Graham, you work on where the bus routes and her work and home converge." She says, listing who would do what. They nodded and were about to go do what they were assigned when the Doctor spoke again. "And, be careful who you talk to and where you're going. Especially you two." She says the last part to Ryan and Yaz. "It's not fair, but you need to stay safe."

The two sigh but nod, knowing it's necessary to lay low here in order to stay safe. 

Everybody splits off to do their assignments with the instruction to meet back at the motel within the hour.

 

* * *

 

They are all gathered on the floor in front of the beds with a multitude of newspapers and pamphlets, going through what they figured out during the last hour. 

"Alright. I found out where she works." Yaz starts, pointing towards one of the newspapers. "Montgomery Fair Department Store."

Ryan jumps in after that, "And if the phonebooks are right, this is where she works." He says, pointing towards an address in the newspaper.

"These bus routes don't go anywhere near Rosa's shop or house." Graham starts, placing those pamphlets off to the side before laying the remaining ones on the floor with the newspapers. "But, these ones do." 

"Great." The Doctor says, impressed at her friend's investigative skills. "If we can find Rosa's route and time today, we can keep an eye on her tomorrow."

"Who's up for a bus right?" 

Graham is the only one to raise his hand.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There aren't a lot of opportunities for super powers during this episode but I'm going to do my best, I swear. 
> 
> Thanks for reading guys!


End file.
